Path of No Regrets: Renewal
by Spectrum
Summary: Naruto and Sasuke have enough to worry about right now even without the psychological mess their lives have become, but some things are so crucial that they come first even so. The search for a purpose. The rebuilding of a bond. And the rebirth of a team.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer:** I own neither Naruto nor anything related to the series. It is the property of Masashi Kishimoto, who hopefully won't be _too_ fussed that I'm messing around with his characters/universe for my own amusement. _(whistles)_

This story is AU after episode 134/chapter 233. Other notes and Japanese terms are at the bottom. And off we go.

* * *

_What have I become, my sweetest friend?  
Everyone I know goes away in the end_

_--Nine Inch Nails, "Hurt"_

* * *

**Path of No Regrets: Renewal  
**

_**-Prologue-**_

Naruto wasn't dead.

No, he was unconscious. Sasuke was sure of that. He wasn't dead. There were no wounds… the hole in his jacket, that was from before, when his Chidori had hit. It had impaled Naruto's right lung… but somehow that bizarre, incredible power of his had regenerated the wound almost immediately. And there were no other injuries. He was just unconscious. He wasn't dead.

He wasn't dead.

Sasuke did not know what this feeling was, as he stood there looking down at his one-time teammate. It wasn't regret. It wasn't relief. It wasn't numb… but it wasn't sad, happy, or even angry, either. There was something twisting its way into the pit of his stomach that felt cold and unsettling, and he could not for the life of him give it a name.

All he knew was that it hurt a lot more than he thought it would have, standing here looking down at Naruto's lifeless form. He found himself wondering how it had come to this. How the hell it had come to this: him, standing over the person he considered to be his closest friend.

Debating.

Debating whether or not to kill him.

Had things really gone so far?

There were clouds darkening the sky, curtains slowly moving to block the remaining pools of light that still illuminated the valley. The Valley of the End, where Sasuke had barely ten minutes ago sworn to himself anew that he would not look back, no matter what happened here. He watched tiredly, almost impassively, as the beam of light engulfing him and Naruto faded away until it at last disappeared completely, vanishing from Naruto's face. Naruto, who still wasn't dead.

Unexpectedly, the hitai-ate tied around the back of Sasuke's head came loose and fell to the ground with a soft _chink_ beside Naruto's head. Sasuke blinked at it. There was a thin slash running through the Leaf Village insignia, disturbingly reminiscent of the mark that had been on his brother's forehead protector the last time he had run across him. The mark of a traitor, a missing-nin.

He didn't smile at the irony.

Instead, he thought of his own boast, made only a short time earlier. _You still won't be able to lay a mark on my forehead. That much has not changed._

He wondered if Naruto had done it on purpose. It would be just like the idiot, going to the ends of the earth just to drive home his point. Sasuke wouldn't have put it past him. Even if it hadn't been on purpose, it still reeked of the usuratonkachi's stupid dumb luck.

Because, after all, it _did_ drive home that point very well indeed. Sasuke had finally acknowledged him as an equal, and the slash just screamed that, hell yes, Naruto wasn't backing down from him. They had fought as equals right up until the end.

"Naruto…" The name came unbidden from his lips as he looked down on his friend (he _was_ his friend…). "I…"

_I what? _

_I care? I'm sorry? _

_I'm **confused**, is what I am…_

Abruptly, he felt something cold hit the back of his neck, and he looked up, surprised. Then he heard it, the pitter-patter of rain hitting the sheer cliffs surrounding them, and the _plop-plop-plop_ of the water as it drummed into the river. It was soaking him now, running down his face and soaking through clothes that were already wet from the battle before, but he somehow found himself unable to move. He stared into the dark sky, a thousand thoughts running through his mind. His past, his future, and most of all, his now. His choice. And Naruto, still lying there at his feet, still awaiting his final answer.

He didn't know…

Suddenly a jolt of pain lanced through his left arm, and he cried aloud. His breath hissed as the stinging continued, and he gripped his shoulder. Barely a moment later he discovered that the arm was not the only hurt as he coughed, feeling the painful aftereffects of his grueling battle with Naruto fully for the first time. He coughed again and stumbled, blinking as blood hit the ground a mere half-second before his knees did. He keeled forward with the pain.

And found, quite suddenly, that his forehead was now a mere two inches away from Naruto's.

He stared at him, silently, as the rain continued to pour down on them both, droplets sliding along the side of his face and trickling off, some of them splashing onto Naruto's own face. The other boy did not even stir. It would have been almost frightening, had not Sasuke been close enough to him to be able to clearly hear his steady, soft breathing. Because, after all, he was not dead.

Looking back at it long afterward, he knew that was the moment when he finally realized that he could not kill the person lying before him. He would never be able to kill Naruto. He could kick him, punch him, insult him, talk down to him, beat on him, yell at him, and run away from him. But he could not kill him. The thought of Naruto suddenly dead, gone, erased… he suddenly could not bear it. No, he absolutely could not kill him. What had he been thinking…?

Had he been _that_ close to becoming what his brother was? A murderer? Someone who would betray even his own family?

He felt dizzy, suddenly, and wasn't sure if it was from the realization or just from his injuries. His head slumped down, and he tilted it away from Naruto so that his forehead hit the ground softly beside him. He closed his eyes, gritting his teeth. The earlier feeling in the pit of his stomach had gone from cold to heavy and nauseating. He swallowed against it, breathing heavily, and repressed a shudder, suddenly feeling very drained.

Tired as he was, he failed to detect the approaching presence, his senses too preoccupied by the sounds of the rain, the waterfall, and his own heart rapidly thumping against his chest. He did not even hear the footsteps until they were only a very short distance away. _Then_ it finally registered, red flags of alertness going up and shock running through him as he opened his eyes.

He recalled Naruto saying something about others from Konoha who had come along after him. Neji… Shikamaru… Rock Lee, the guy Naruto always referred to as 'Thick-Brows'… and a couple others he could not recall. He also knew that the four Sound nin who had accompanied himself were presumably somewhere out there, though as he belatedly put two and two together, he realized that they must have been held back by the very shinobi Naruto had named. It was a very unsettling thought, and he immediately suppressed it in the back of his mind, because now was not the time to be thinking about more people that it seemed, either way, would be dying because of him.

Now was not the time to think about that, because he had much more immediate concerns on his mind. The person who stood a few yards away from him now was not anyone that Naruto had mentioned, nor anyone who had initially accompanied Sasuke himself on his flight from Konoha. He was now staring at a familiar silver-haired man of average height, who was perhaps the last person he had ever expected to see here.

"You…" Sasuke muttered, forcing his head up for a better view.

The man was smirking at him. As he regarded him more closely, Sasuke caught sight of the insignia on his hitai-ate… and all the pieces suddenly fell into place.

"It's been a long time, Sasuke-kun," the man said.

Sasuke felt sudden white-hot anger rush through him. The adrenaline that had only just been starting to quiet down immediately surged up once more.

"Kabuto," he spat.

When Sasuke had last seen this man, his face had been set in an awkward and disarming smile, the annoyingness and incessancy of which had rivaled even Naruto's usual fox-like grin. Now, though, Kabuto wore an ugly look, a much darker, hungrier smile that would have sent a chill running down Sasuke's spine if he hadn't been too angry to care.

"You lied…" he growled darkly as the man took another step forward. "You lied to us… that whole time… you were working for _him_!"

Kabuto raised his eyebrows briefly, as if impressed. "Ahh, very observant, Sasuke-kun. It took Naruto-kun much longer to realize when I encountered him a week ago. But you caught it right away." He tapped his forehead protector with his two forefingers, and his smirk widened. "As expected, of the one Orochimaru-sama desires so badly. You, unlike Naruto-kun, have great potential."

Sasuke seethed at him, saying nothing.

"Orochimaru-sama has been waiting for you a very long time, Sasuke-kun," Kabuto continued. "When you did not arrive as planned, and nothing was heard from either Kimimaro or the Sound Four, he began to grow impatient, and I was sent to hurry you along." His gaze shifted slightly from Sasuke to Naruto, and Sasuke's eyes narrowed as the man nodded slightly to himself.

"This, of course, explains why you were delayed," he said, his smirk abruptly fading. "It seems the Kyuubi brat has been interfering once again."

_Kyuubi brat?_ Sasuke thought, puzzled, but had no time to dwell on the strange comment as Kabuto continued on. "It is a bad habit of his, isn't it? And it's getting rather troublesome as of late." His eyes narrowed, and Sasuke suddenly felt a chill of alarm. His sense of danger was confirmed a moment later when Kabuto came to a conclusion.

"I think it's about time we got rid of this problem once and for all."

Sasuke's eyes widened as Kabuto began walking toward them once again. _No!_ he thought, and the urgency with which he thought it almost shocked him. He found himself desperate to stop the man, even though he could barely even move. Panic shot through him. Had it been any other moment, he would have almost wanted to laugh at the irony. Hadn't he himself been trying to kill Naruto barely ten minutes earlier? And yet now, he was utterly desperate to stop this man from harming his friend at any cost.

What had happened to his revenge? What about Itachi, what about his clan? Was he so frantic to save Naruto—_Naruto?_—that he was willing to give up everything he had spent half his life working towards without a second thought?

Pain blasted up his left arm again and he winced, seeing stars dance in front of his vision for a moment. When they cleared, he felt almost dazed, and realized with a start that Kabuto was right in front of them now, his right hand outlined in the faint, hazy glow of chakra. Or was it his vision that was growing hazy…? He wasn't sure.

His arm tingled… it was familiar. He had felt this pain before.

All of a sudden, he heard his sensei's voice, unusually stern and serious as he stood on a tree branch what felt like a lifetime ago. _"Chidori is a power given to you because you found things important to you."_

He looked down, saw Naruto still lying there, oblivious to the fact that he was about to be killed. That idiot.

That total idiot.

"_That power is not something to be used against your friends…"_

He drew in a shaky breath.

"…_or for revenge."_

Kabuto smirked once more, arm raised. His chakra, Sasuke could see now, formed a small blade.

Kabuto lunged.

"_You yourself should know what that power should be used for."_

And suddenly, Sasuke found himself moving faster than he'd ever moved before, his Sharingan activating in a split-second, his left arm coming alive in a blazing blue storm of pure chakra that danced outward in all directions, sizzling as it made contact with the rain that was still pouring down.

Sasuke did not even recall forming the seals. All he knew was that one moment he was crouched on the ground watching helplessly as Kabuto attacked, and the next he was standing between would-be-murderer and victim, shaking uncontrollably, his heartbeat pounding in his ears, his hand thrust out to catch Kabuto square in the chest with Chidori. Kabuto's eyes were wide open in utter shock. Sasuke was sure his own expression must have mirrored his exactly.

He slid his hand back out numbly, and Kabuto stumbled back.

And Sasuke's whole body was engulfed in flame.

He screamed, collapsing. It was pain beyond anything he'd known before. He was dying, he had to be. Every nerve in his body was on fire with pure agony. His head hit something—not the ground, it was soft; it was Naruto, he'd collapsed against Naruto—and he failed to bite back another cry as the pain intensified.

_Naruto_, he thought, and he forced his eyes open. He couldn't die here, Kabuto was still here, he couldn't let him… Naruto…

But it was no use, his vision was already fading, and the pain was dimming now…

The last thing he thought he saw was a dog, wearing a forehead protector. He knew that dog.

And he recognized the footsteps falling right behind it as he finally slipped away into darkness.

* * *

Kakashi was 27 years old.

He had graduated from the Shinobi Academy at age 5. Had become a chuunin at age 6. Jounin when he was barely in his teens. Anbu before he was old enough to drink. He had copied a thousand jutsus, seen a thousand deaths, fought in a thousand battles and wars. He had been a ninja for over twenty _years_. He had seen unimaginable horrors in his lifetime, things that he would give almost anything to erase from his mind and forget forever.

None of it prepared him for what he saw when he reached the valley.

"We're here," Pakkun said quietly.

It was like emerging onto a scene from a nightmare.

His students—his children; _his_ responsibility!—lying there. Sasuke's screams, fading away into the rain and the thundering din of the surrounding waterfall. And that man… Kabuto, Orochimaru's henchman… crouching, hunched over, breathing heavily. Was that his blood spattered all over the immediate area? It had to be, it couldn't be theirs… it _couldn't_ be theirs. He had _not_ arrived too late this time.

An anxious glance at Pakkun confirmed it as the dog shook his head, much to Kakashi's relief. A quick leap later, he was crouched beside Naruto and Sasuke, finding himself doing something he had rarely ever done before—praying. A brief look at Naruto told him he still lived, as his fingers found his pulse to confirm it. A glance at Sasuke showed that he, too, was still alive, but in much more critical shape. Kakashi's forehead creased in worry as he did a swift analysis of the boy's condition. His breathing was ragged and very weak, his chest barely rising and falling. There were numerous cuts, scrapes, and bruises covering his body, and his left hand was badly burnt.

_Chakra overuse_, he thought grimly. It looked like he had attempted too many Chidoris, burning his hand and coming within a stone's throw of exhausting his chakra completely, killing himself. It was a miracle he was alive at all.

Slowly, he turned away from Sasuke to rest his one visible eye on the other man still crouched a few meters away. To his surprise, Kabuto did not look nearly as bad off as he had merely moments ago. In fact, Kakashi could not detect any wounds on him, even though his shirt was ripped and singed in places, much like Naruto's jacket was.

Eye narrowed, Kakashi rose to his feet. Kabuto stood at the same time, matching Kakashi's pace, smiling evilly. "Late as usual, Kakashi-san."

Kakashi did not reply to him. Instead, he glanced back at Pakkun and ordered, "Don't leave their side." Pakkun nodded and moved to stand behind Kakashi and in front of the boys protectively. If push came to shove he would be absolutely useless—although loyal, Kakashi's favorite tracking companion was definitely not a fighter. It didn't matter, though, as the jounin was not going to let anyone get within a dozen feet of his charges now that he was finally here.

He reached to pull up his hitai-ate to his forehead, revealing his Sharingan eye. He was not going to let this bastard get away with what he had done.

To Kakashi's bitter satisfaction, the younger man took a slight step back. However, his grin still held into place as he shifted into a loose fighting stance. "Sasuke-kun surpasses all expectations," he taunted flippantly, unexpectedly.

"You're not getting your hands on him," Kakashi replied.

Abruptly, he flung two kunai at Kabuto, who dodged as expected, jumping effortlessly to the left. As the other man evaded, Kakashi rapidly formed six seals, then shouted, "_Doton! Iwayari no Jutsu!"_ Several dozen jagged spikes of rock emerged suddenly and rapidly from the ground on which Kabuto was just landing. Reacting quickly, however, the young Sound nin formed a protective glove of sorts with chakra, using it to do a handspring off the tip of one spike without impaling himself. He flipped up and out of range, landing perched on the cliff face a dozen or so meters above him, clinging to the rain-slick vertical surface with his chakra. A split second later Kakashi was there with him, launching into a brief but furious taijutsu battle before Kabuto again backed off, having blocked or dodged all of Kakashi's strikes but failed to attempt any of his own.

He was weak, Kakashi realized. If Sasuke had hit him with Chidori, and he had somehow managed to regenerate himself, it must still mean he was low on chakra now, vulnerable. Now was the time to go in for the kill, before the other attempted to escape. He formed three seals—ox, hare, monkey—and felt the chakra take form in his hand. Raikiri would finish this one off the fastest—he didn't have time to waste on a lengthy battle, not right now. He needed to get Naruto and Sasuke back to Konoha.

Before he could finish charging the attack, though, Kabuto aimed a slew of kunai and shuriken at him, forcing him to dodge. Mimicking Kakashi's own strategy, Kabuto used the brief span of time to rapidly form his own seal pattern, one Kakashi recognized a moment too late. _Shit_—

"_Kurotohari no Jutsu!_"

Suddenly, the surrounding world went completely black. Kakashi cursed—this was no genjutsu; this was a highly advanced ninjutsu that used chakra to completely block out the surrounding particles of light, thus sending the immediate area into utter, total darkness. Because it was no illusion, but real, not even the Sharingan could see through it. It was the ultimate form of the age-old smoke-bomb trick, the ultimate cover for an escape, and required a lot of chakra to pull off. Kakashi hadn't gambled on the other man still having that much left. Cursing again, he powered down Raikiri and formed the seals for Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. Sending his clone—effectively blind, but better than nothing at all—back down to make sure nothing happened to Pakkun and the boys, Kakashi himself attempted to pursue Kabuto before he escaped.

It proved to be futile. With the jutsu obscuring his vision and the rain and waterfall effectively canceled out his senses of hearing and smell, Kakashi was unable to follow. By the time the technique faded away a few seconds later—its one major downside was that it was not at all long-lasting—Kabuto was already gone.

Kakashi's frustration was short-lived, however. He had much more important things to worry about.

Making his way back down to the others in a few short leaps, he found his clone already hoisting the unconscious Naruto onto his back. As he knelt down himself to pick up Sasuke, he paused momentarily as a glint of metal caught his eye. A deep frown settled beneath his mask as he took it in his hand.

Sasuke's forehead protector. A line was freshly traced across it, crossing out the once-proud leaf symbol. Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment as he tugged his own forehead protector back down to cover his Sharingan once more.

There was a lot that needed to be dealt with, once they all got back home.

Taking Sasuke carefully up into his own arms, wary of the boy's injuries, he nodded once at himself and Pakkun, and sped off back to Konoha.

* * *

_-to be continued-_

* * *

_Hitai-ate_ – Forehead protector  
_Usuratonkachi _– Total idiot  
_Iwayari no Jutsu_ – Rock Spear Technique  
_Kurotohari no Jutsu_ – Black Shroud Technique

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

So yeah, this is that fic that I've been referring to in my two most recent one-shots. The one I've been putting off writing for almost two years now, reason being that if things go as planned, it's going to be pretty damned long. And long fics intimidate me like whoa.

But, the gosh-darned thing just refused to leave me alone. And so here it is: against all odds, I have finally started to seriously write a multi-chapter fic. Updates should be reasonably frequent, but by that I mean every 1-2 weeks or so. I don't want to be one of those authors that never updates a story, but I don't want to get ahead of myself, either. I'm a slow writer at even the best of times, so we'll see what happens.

Anyway, feedback is much appreciated, as always. This is my little pet project, so I won't deny I'm curious as to how well it'll go over. :P


	2. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: **This may come as a shock, but in the week's worth of time since this fic was last updated, I have _not _come to own Naruto. I know, I know. I couldn't believe it either. So much for all of that "_dreams come true!_" BS… I feel like such a chump.

* * *

_This is over my head  
But underneath my feet  
_'_Cause by tomorrow morning I_'_ll have this thing beat  
And everything will be back to the way that it was  
…I wish that it was just that easy_

_--Lifehouse, "Somewhere In Between"_

* * *

**Path of No Regrets: Renewal  
**

_**-Chapter 1-**_

Naruto's dreams were red.

Red like Sasuke's eyes. Red like his blood spattered on Sasuke's arm as that arm pierced _through _Naruto _(he really was fighting seriously after all, wasn't he)_, right through his lung. Red like _that _chakra bubbling forth, so much power that he couldn't control it; so much power that it _hurt _to use it. He had never been able to recall the fights where he'd used Kyuubi's chakra very well afterward. But he definitely knew that using Kyuubi's power had never actually _hurt _before. Not until now.

But he'd had to do it. There had been no choice; he had to bring Sasuke back _(Sasuke who was trying to kill him)_, and that was the only way. Nothing else had gotten through to him, and if he hadn't fought him he'd have left, _left _just like that, gone straight off to Orochimaru _(Orochimaru who killed old man Hokage)_, who wanted Sasuke's body, who might have _killed _Sasuke, and Naruto would have lost him forever. Just like that.

He'd had to do it.

It almost hadn't worked, though. It had been close, too close. But in the end it was all right. He'd blacked out after that final clash between his Rasengan and Sasuke's Chidori, and he didn't know what had happened after that, except that he'd woken up very briefly to find himself on his sensei's back as the jounin raced from tree to tree. He'd glanced to his side groggily, and had seen another Kakashi running alongside them, which didn't make sense, but Naruto hadn't cared. Because that other Kakashi had been carrying Sasuke. And that was all Naruto needed to know. That was all that mattered.

So he'd drifted off again, and dreamed dreams of red. And Sasuke, who he'd almost failed; Sasuke who—

_(was trying to kill you)_

—who'd called him his closest friend. Sasuke, who knew the same loneliness as him. Who had been in the darkness all this time. Who he'd promised—he _needed_—to save.

Sasuke, who _had _tried to kill him, but who he could forgive. Because he had to.

* * *

When he woke up again, he was in the hospital, and Kakashi was sitting on a chair beside his bed, nose buried in a copy of _Icha Icha Violence_.

They were back in Konoha. Which meant—

Naruto sat bolt upright. Immediately, Kakashi put a calm hand on his chest to restrain him. "Not so fast; you should take it easy for a little bit."

Naruto barely heard him as he urgently glanced around the room. "Where's—?"

"Sasuke's all right. We brought him back along with you. He's resting in another room right now."

Naruto let out a small breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, and started to ease back down again. Then another thought hit him and he looked back at Kakashi anxiously. "What about—"

"Everyone else made it too. There were a few close calls, and a couple of the others on your team are still in intensive care, but they're all going to be okay."

Neji. Shikamaru. Kiba, Chouji, Thick-Brows. All okay. Everyone was all right.

Naruto leaned back, and for the first time in days, let a grin of relief spread across his face. He looked back at Kakashi. "So the mission was a success."

"The first part of this is over and done with, yes," Kakashi acknowledged. Then his face turned unexpectedly grim. "But we're not out in the clear just yet."

Naruto's face fell and he looked away from Kakashi suddenly. Of course. Of course it wasn't going to be quite _that_ easy. He'd known that, but…

But he really didn't want to deal with this now. Not now, not just yet. Did they _really _need to—?

"Naruto, I have a few questions that I need you to answer for me."

Naruto sighed, still looking away from him. "Do I have to?" he tried vainly.

"We need to know what happened back there, Naruto," Kakashi pressed, gentle but firm.

"Now?"

"Now. There are a lot of things that need to be decided, and a lot of it rests on us knowing exactly what happened between you and Sasuke back there."

Naruto felt a brief rise of anger. "And who's '_us_'?"

"The Hokage, and the Advisors. They need to know."

"It's none of their business," Naruto said hotly.

"Like it or not, Naruto, it is."

"It's not!" Naruto turned back to Kakashi angrily. "It's between me and him! There's no reason for anyone else to butt in—especially not _them_! It has nothing to do with them!"

"Naruto." Kakashi sounded sterner now.

"It isn't—"

"Sasuke left the village of his own free will," Kakashi said sharply.

Naruto shut up and cast his eyes downward.

"It was his own decision; Sakura's story confirmed that much. He left Konoha willingly to go to Orochimaru, one of our worst enemies at this moment. If they decide to, they're more than within their rights to treat this as an act of treason. And Sasuke could be punished accordingly."

Naruto's head jerked back up toward Kakashi's as his mouth dropped open in horror.

"But…" He met Kakashi's gaze in shock, hardly believing what his sensei had just said. "But—he _didn't_—he's not…" He gripped his sheet tightly, not at all liking the fear suddenly swimming into his gut. "They _can't_!"

"Naruto, listen." Now Kakashi was looking at him very seriously, his expression grave. "I want to help him as much as you do. But to do that, I need you to tell me _exactly_ what happened before I found the two of you. You're the only one who knows; Shikamaru reported that he and you were separated, and it seems that Rock Lee was the last person to see both you and Sasuke. And that wasn't at the Valley of the End."

Naruto looked back at Kakashi silently for a minute as he realized he was right. Then he glanced away toward the window, thinking about what Kakashi had just said. Finally he opened his mouth, hesitated for just a split second, then said, "I don't remember."

Silence on Kakashi's end. Then: "Anything at all?"

"I blacked out," Naruto replied firmly.

_Damned if they're gonna use me to incriminate him. Bastards can try all they like. It's none of their business._

Kakashi was regarding him thoughtfully. After a moment, he mused, "So, you caught up to Sasuke at the valley?"

"Yes," Naruto answered after a beat.

"And the two of you…?"

"…Talked."

_(He even called me his best friend, Sensei. You should have been there, it was touching.)_

"About…?"

"…He told me to go back."

"To Konoha."

"Yes."

"You didn't."

"No."

"You stayed. And then you…?"

"…I don't remember." Naruto closed his eyes.

"…You blacked out."

"Yeah."

Kakashi was silent for so long that Naruto almost started to wonder if he'd actually left. When he opened his eyes again, he saw Kakashi resting his chin in his hand, looking at nothing in particular, his face unreadable.

"You ripped your jacket while you were trying to catch up to him?" he asked at last.

Naruto froze. Kakashi's visible eye, however, remained fixed on whatever particular spot in the room he found so interesting. So at last, Naruto answered, "Got it torn when I was fighting that spiky bone bastard guy. Forgot his name. Thick-Brows fought him, you can ask him."

Kakashi nodded. "All right."

Then he mimed a yawn and stood up. Turning to face the door, he said mildly, "Sakura, you can come in now."

And for the second time in two minutes, Naruto's body went rigid.

There was a quiet shuffling noise by the door. Then it opened, and a familiar pink head stuck itself hesitantly into the room.

"Um," she mumbled apologetically. "…Sorry about that, Sensei."

"It's all right," Kakashi said in a '_no-harm-done' _tone of voice. "But make a note—we need to work on your stealth techniques when we get a chance."

He smiled when Sakura's face flushed, and held up a placating hand. "Ahh, just teasing, sorry." He patted her head in a fatherly manner, then abruptly sang, "Well, I'll leave you two to talk."

"Sensei?" Sakura glanced up at him questioningly.

"Sakura, I trust you can catch Naruto up on the rest of what's been happening while he's been out?" When she nodded after a beat, he continued, "Well in that case, I'm off. I have a lot of things that need doing. The two of you behave, now."

And with that, he vanished—literally, puff of smoke and all—leaving Sakura and Naruto alone.

Naruto found that it was difficult to meet Sakura's eyes, and he blankly wondered why. It wasn't like he had anything to hide from her.

_Except everything, that is._

But he _had _fulfilled his promise to her. He'd brought Sasuke back. So why was it still so hard to face her now?

Finally, in defiance of his own bizarrely guilty thoughts, he looked up at her and grinned widely. "Hey, Sakura-chan."

Sakura met him with a sad smile, and Naruto's grin faltered. She looked like she was about to cry—what the _hell_—why were girls so—?

"Naruto…" Her head was tilted downward now; he couldn't see her eyes.

"Yeah?" he said quietly.

"…Thank you." She looked back up at him, eyes brimming. Feeling suddenly uncomfortable and oddly overwhelmed, he nodded.

"It was nothing. It… I promised." He paused, then grinned back at her again. "And I never go back on my word. Right?"

There—_there_ it was. A real smile out of her, finally.

"…Right."

She sat down in the chair Kakashi had just vacated, and for a minute it looked like she was maybe going to say or do something else, but then it passed and she seemed to decide against it. So they both just sat there for a short bit.

"So…" Naruto said presently. "How long was I out?"

"Not very long, from what I heard," Sakura answered. "A few hours, maybe. I haven't been here all that long myself; I only heard that you guys were back a little while ago. Ino-pig told me."

Naruto nodded.

"Have you… gone to see him yet?" he asked finally.

Sakura paused for a moment, then shook her head.

"No. They wouldn't… they're not allowing anyone to see him just yet."

"But he's okay, right?" Naruto pressed, glancing up anxiously. "Kakashi-sensei said…"

"He's all right, I think. He was in worse condition than you when you got here, though. He…" She drew in a shaky breath. "The nurse I talked to said it was pretty bad. Chakra exhaustion, I think it was. But he's okay now. He's sleeping." She hesitated again, then added: "They've got Anbu guarding him."

Naruto met her eyes seriously, and a shared thought passed between them.

"…They're not sure if he's going to try to leave again," Naruto said aloud even though it was unnecessary.

Sakura nodded. After a moment, she said, "Naruto… do you really not remember anything that happened?"

Naruto looked away. Then he murmured, barely louder than a whisper, "I wish I didn't."

Sakura said nothing.

"…We fought," Naruto confessed at last. "Me and him. Again."

Sakura nodded, looking as if it didn't surprise her. She got up and walked over to the window.

"…It's hot in here," she said quietly. "You should open this up." She pushed the window open. "Get more of a breeze."

"Sakura-chan…"

"It's okay, Naruto."

She turned to him suddenly, and smiled.

"It's okay. You brought him back to us. That's enough. The rest… we can take care of that one step at a time."

Naruto stared at her, and was reminded yet again of just why he loved Sakura-chan so much. He smiled.

"Yeah."

As Sakura turned to walk away from the window, he added suddenly, "Sakura-chan."

She looked at him questioningly.

"…We'll be a team again," he promised, and as he said it, he forced himself to believe it. "We will. We'll get that cold bastard to snap out of it one way or the other, whether he likes it or not." He grinned.

She matched his grin, and nodded in return. "Yeah."

Then she turned toward the door and stated, "Shikamaru, you can come in now."

There was a noise by the door, before it opened and Shikamaru stepped in.

"…Yo, Naruto. Sakura." He raised his hand slightly in greeting, then stuck it back in his pocket and glanced between the other two awkwardly.

"No worries," Sakura said lightly. "But you might want to work a little more on your stealth skills." And with that, she waved goodbye to Naruto and stepped out of the room.

Shikamaru's eyes followed her for a moment before he sighed and stepped over to straddle the once-again-abandoned chair. He looked at Naruto—who was trying not to laugh—and shook his head tiredly.

"…Women."

* * *

Shikamaru stayed for a while to keep Naruto company and to fill him in on the rest of the details he hadn't yet heard—what had happened after Naruto had broken off from the group, what condition each of the others was in, and everything else that had been going on. To his credit, Shikamaru seemed to immediately sense Naruto's reluctance to discuss what had happened on his own end of the mission, and tactfully avoided the topic. Eventually the conversation even steered away from the subject of the mission altogether, and the two actually managed to converse about absolutely nothing for a very respectable length of time.

Iruka-sensei had shown up (bringing ramen with him, no less, which delighted Naruto to no end; hospital food had never sat very well with him) by the time Shikamaru had to leave. He stayed for quite a while himself, so that by the time he finally had to depart as well, Naruto had managed to pass a good several hours without thinking about Sasuke or the Valley of the End or those few dream-images he could really stand to do without.

Now, though, visiting hours were over, it was night, and Naruto found himself alone with his own thoughts for the first time since everything had happened. And with nothing left to distract him, he found that he could think of nothing but what he had been trying to _avoid_ thinking about at all costs. Red eyes, red blood, red chakra. And, perhaps most painful of all, those three words that, taken in their context, he still could not begin to understand.

"_My closest friend…"_

He rolled over on his mattress and tried desperately to get the image out of his head, but he couldn't. It lingered, taunting him bitterly.

Sasuke's eyes… they had been so cold when he'd said that. Hardened, empty, unfeeling… like he hadn't even meant it at all.

But then, as the fight had gone on… he'd changed. Opened, somehow; softened… not much, hardly at all at first, but enough so that Naruto had been able to _see_, just for a moment, the _real_ Sasuke, the one he'd known all along. The one who'd saved his life when they'd fought Haku, who had taken a blow _meant for Naruto _and had felt so frighteningly, terribly helpless in Naruto's arms, and had pleaded, "_Don't die," _before closing his eyes and going limp and terrifying Naruto in a way he'd never been terrified before. The one who'd looked Naruto in the eye at the chuunin exam and said, "_I want to fight you,"_ and with just those simple words somehow made Naruto feel happier than he could remember being in almost his entire life. The one who'd broken his fall during the fight against Gaara, told him he didn't want to see his precious people die, and just like that had made Naruto remember what he himself was fighting for in the first place.

He'd caught a glimpse of that Sasuke again, for just a moment, and ironically it was that Sasuke who now haunted Naruto most of all. Because in that one fleeting moment, Naruto had seen just how much that Sasuke, even as he had been ruthlessly attacking Naruto, was hurting.

Hurting.

Naruto did not fully understand the reasons why—it had to do with his brother, he knew that much, but the full extent of it still eluded him—but if it had been enough to drive him to _this_, to leave Konoha, to try to go to _Orochimaru_, then he knew it had to be bad.

And it was the thought of Sasuke in that much pain, that much suffering, that scared Naruto most of all. Because regardless of whether or not Sasuke had meant what he'd said, on Naruto's end, the words were true.

"_To me, you have become my closest friend."_

He sighed, aloud.

That, he knew, was really why he didn't want to talk to anyone about the fight, and why he still felt guilty facing Sakura-chan. He _hadn't_ fulfilled his promise, or the mission. Not really. He'd brought Sasuke back. But he hadn't yet saved him. He was still in the darkness, in a place Naruto had not yet managed to reach.

He wasn't even sure if he could.

All he knew was that, for _Sasuke's _sake, and for his own and Sakura's and everyone else's… he had to keep trying. Even if it meant putting the rest of it behind him… forgetting, or at least pretending it had never happened.

For Sasuke's sake, for his closest friend… he could keep the dreams to himself.

* * *

_-to be continued-_

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

Ohh… this chapter. I just don't know about this chapter. It's too short, Naruto is too angsty (or maybe he's not angsty _enough_—I just can't tell, that's the problem), Sakura is too fleeting (silly girl just skipped in and out; but in her defense, she's still worried about Sasuke, and I'm sure she planned to visit Naruto again later), and the details about just what is going to happen with Sasuke are too vague. …Although, that last was really intentional—that'll be explored a lot more in the next chapter, when Sasuke himself appears again. (Ha, and speaking of, here I am saying that _Naruto's _too angsty… oh, irony.)

Oh well, regardless of how much I like it, this chapter was still necessary to start setting things up, so at least it's done and finished now. Feedback is golden as always, and many thanks to everyone who's reviewed so far. (And to answer mylilchickadee's question: yes, this is the story that sets up _Grown Up Orphans _and _Stone Skipping_. :) Matter of fact, both of those are actually key parts of this fic's timeline, and I will be mentioning when each one takes place as this gets further along. Though it'll be at least a few more chapters before we get to that.) My updating plans remain the same, though I did get this chapter finished faster than I expected. Now I'm wondering if it was just a fluke, or if I shouldn't have been doing this multi-chapter thing all along. To think of all the wasted years… XD


	3. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: **Still not mine. (I'll let you know when.)

* * *

_But all is not forgotten  
And now's no time for tears_  
'_Cause though that boy has died, this one still lives  
And now there's life  
And a chance to make up for all those mistakes_

_--The Cooper Temple Clause, "The Same Mistakes"_

* * *

**Path of No Regrets: Renewal  
**

_**-Chapter 2-**_

As far as Kakashi was concerned, the fact that Sasuke had been _unconscious_ for two days, and yet had somehow managed to exhaust Kakashi more during those two days than in the entire _year _he'd been training him until now, was paramount evidence of just how much trouble his student was capable of causing when he wanted to.

And the worst of it was, Sasuke had always been trouble even at the best of times. Right from the start, it had been apparent just how much his need for vengeance was driving him, eating at him. Kakashi could recall as if it were yesterday his very first meeting with his cute little team, when they'd all introduced themselves. He remembered how Sasuke, his elbows propped on his knees and his chin resting calmly in his hands, had looked at him coolly and matter-of-factly and said that there was a certain man he wanted to kill. And right from the start, Kakashi had seen far too much of his old self in the brooding glare of the young prodigy, and concluded that to take him as a student would be an extraordinarily bad idea.

But Sasuke had surprised him.

It wasn't his talent or ability as a ninja that had impressed Kakashi on that very first day of training, during the bell test, although Sasuke's skills _had_ been remarkable nonetheless. The boy had shown first-rate capability for his age and rank, and it had been clear from the start that the only thing he was really lacking was a competent and dedicated teacher. But Kakashi had seen potential before, and it alone was not enough to convince him, especially not when that potential was so weighed down by hatred and the desire for revenge.

What had made Kakashi reconsider, what had finally convinced him to take on the first three-man genin squad he had ever graduated in his life, had been the simple act of one boy offering to share his lunch with another. The fact that _Sasuke_, of all people, had been willing to take that risk and disobey Kakashi because doing so would benefit the team.

It had only been one small, trivial action, but in doing it, Sasuke had unknowingly proven two crucial things to his doubtful instructor. One, that he and the others _were _actually capable of working as a team, and two… that he was capable of _learning_.

And that had been what ultimately won Kakashi over. It was small, yes, but it was proof that this boy, given time and guidance, could still avoid the dark fate he seemed to be headed toward. That he could avoid the mistakes Kakashi himself had once made, and overcome the obstacles life had thrown in his path in order to reach his _true _potential.

That had been his hope. Now, though, all Kakashi could do was sit and despondently wonder where it had all started to go so wrong.

Of course, he knew the answer perfectly well. Hindsight, as ever, was 20/20, and Kakashi understood exactly where, when and why Sasuke had started down this road again. It had been when Itachi returned to Konoha. Orochimaru had provided the door that had led to this current mess of a situation, of course, but make no mistake, it had been Itachi who'd come along and pushed Sasuke through it. Again.

But even so, for a single encounter with his brother to push Sasuke _this_ far… along with the fact that Kakashi, for all the effort he'd put into teaching Sasuke, had still failed to see it coming…

It was more than just Itachi and Orochimaru who were to blame, and he knew it. He himself had failed Sasuke, as a teacher, mentor, and whatever else it was that he had taken it upon himself to be. Maybe he wasn't directly at fault, but the fact remained that he had been capable of preventing this. And he hadn't. And in that, if nothing else, he had failed his student.

And there was the rub, wasn't it? It was certainly why he had, after initially retrieving Naruto and Sasuke, completed the S-class mission he'd previously put off in record time, then raced back to Konoha and point-blank refused to take on any other missions until this had all been sorted out. And it was why, aside from the time he'd spent questioning Naruto and then reporting back to Tsunade and the Advisors, he hadn't left Sasuke's side, not even to visit Obito. Guilt had something to do with it, yes; it was pointless to deny that. But on the whole, it was simply because he had failed Sasuke once…

On the bed before him, the boy moaned suddenly and started to stir for the first time in two days.

…and he was not about to do it again. Not this time.

And that was that.

* * *

The first thing Sasuke quietly asked, before he even opened his eyes, was, "Where am I?"

_Not in Hidden Sound,_ thought Kakashi. _And you're not ever going there if I have anything to say about it._

What he said out loud, however, was simply, "Back home."

Sasuke opened his eyes gradually, as if doing so was painful. He made no attempt to look at Kakashi; whether this was done purposely or whether it was simply because turning his head required more effort than he was willing to give at the moment, Kakashi didn't know. His gaze was cloudy and unfocused at first as he slowly blinked in the light of the room.

Then suddenly his eyes cleared and shot fully open.

"Where's Naruto?"

When Kakashi (somewhat taken by surprise) did not immediately reply, Sasuke urgently pressed, "He's back too? He's here?"

"…He's back," Kakashi said at last.

And when a look of relief—albeit gone almost as soon as it came—actually passed through Sasuke's eyes, Kakashi felt the first stirring of hope he'd had in days, and, just for a moment, allowed himself to think that maybe, just maybe, Sasuke would surprise him again.

He sighed. Well, there was nothing else for it.

"I have a lot of questions for you, Sasuke."

He waited a beat, and when Sasuke said nothing, continued. "Pakkun and I found you and Naruto at the Valley of the End, unconscious. Kabuto was also there, and there was clear evidence of a large-scale battle. I fought Kabuto, but he escaped; after that, I brought the two of you back here. That was two days ago."

Still silence. So: "That's all I've got in terms of details, Sasuke. That's all anyone knows… that's why it's crucial that you tell me, here and now, just what happened back there."

Finally, Sasuke queried, voice low, "Why don't you just ask Naruto?"

"I already did. He insisted that he didn't remember anything."

"And you believed him?" Sasuke's tone was dubious.

Kakashi smiled humorlessly beneath his mask.

"Of course not. But if he refuses to tell us, there's no point in continuing to ask."

"You could have used a jutsu," Sasuke pointed out.

"We could have," Kakashi acknowledged. "But that would have been pretty drastic. In the end, we decided to simply wait and see if you couldn't clarify things for us first."

It was close enough to the truth, though the real reasons for deciding against the use of a mind jutsu also tended toward the fact that Naruto was a jinchuuriki, and no one quite knew just what would come of trying such a thing on him.

"…Why would you take my word for it?" Sasuke asked doubtfully after a pause.

Kakashi eyed him thoughtfully. Then he answered, "Because you've never lied to me before, and I don't see why you would start now."

A look passed through Sasuke's eyes that Kakashi could not quite read. Then he turned his head away so that Kakashi could no longer see his face.

Finally, he asked, "So what happens now?"

Kakashi didn't immediately answer.

"…I'm already a missing-nin for leaving the village, right?" Sasuke continued, his tone containing just enough strained indifference to be instantly transparent. "That's how it works, isn't it? …So what happens to me now?"

"…Technically, that's true," Kakashi said at last. "But, and I'm sure you can attest to this… there are extenuating circumstances to consider." He paused, then added quietly, "And even the Hokage herself knows how easy it is to be manipulated by Orochimaru."

Sasuke stiffened, almost imperceptibly, but said nothing.

"No one was killed; no permanent damage was done," Kakashi went on. "At the moment, they have no reason to press any serious charges. So I don't think the punishment will be too severe. And I'll personally do my best to help there as much as I possibly can… provided that you tell me what I need to know."

He waited, but still Sasuke did not reply. So finally, Kakashi just decided to push for the answers he needed.

"I'm going to tell you what I think, Sasuke. I felt both your chakra and Naruto's when I was approaching the valley. When I got there, you had just passed out after hitting Kabuto with your Chidori. It used up your remaining chakra, meaning that it almost certainly wasn't the first Chidori you'd used that day."

He paused—Sasuke's left hand had clenched ever so slightly—then continued.

"I also found, later, that Naruto had a hole torn in his jacket that I don't believe was caused by Kabuto. Naruto says he tore it during an earlier fight; as previously mentioned, I don't believe him."

Again, Sasuke's palm tightened. Finally, Kakashi asked plainly, "Did you fight him?"

The answer, when it came at last, was so quiet he only just heard it.

"…Yes."

Then, suddenly, something just seemed to break, and Sasuke blurted:

"I tried to kill him."

It was just sudden and just chilling enough that even though Kakashi had almost been expecting such an answer, when it finally came, it hit him off guard. For a moment, all he could do was stare at Sasuke, who still refused to look back at him.

"It—he got in my _way_," Sasuke went on, as if unable to stop himself once it was out. "Just like _always_… and I… I just… he didn't understand a damned _thing_, all he wanted was to stop me, and I couldn't let him, I _had _to…" He stumbled for a beat, swallowed, then finally said, "And so I thought… I'd just end it there, once and for all."

He was gripping the bedsheet tighter than ever now; his knuckles were white.

"…I don't know why I… I just…" He trailed off, gritting his teeth, and didn't say anything else for a long moment. When he spoke again, his voice was somewhat more composed. "…So we fought. I used Chidori again; he used that other technique. It went on for a while, and then… I beat him. And after that…" He paused in mid-sentence, then said finally, "And that was when _he _came. Kabuto. …And the rest of it you know."

"Kabuto was after you?" Kakashi asked after a pause.

Sasuke started slightly. Then he replied, "…Yeah. But he…" He frowned, trailing off again, but Kakashi had already figured out the rest.

"He tried to kill Naruto too," he filled in.

Sasuke opened his mouth, then closed it and simply nodded.

"So you used Chidori," Kakashi concluded. "And then blacked out."

Another nod.

Kakashi leaned back against his chair for a moment as he silently contemplated everything he'd just heard.

"Sasuke, look at me," he said at last.

There was a long moment of hesitation before Sasuke finally did turn to meet his eyes for the first time. Kakashi looked at him long and hard, and to his credit, Sasuke did not flinch or look away. Kakashi could see guilt and regret in those eyes, which relieved him, but also uncertainty and indecision, which wasn't quite as encouraging. It meant that Sasuke was still unsure of exactly where he stood now. And whatever else happened, Kakashi _needed _surety on this matter, above all others.

"You used Chidori two different times in two different ways back there," he stated. "First to try to kill your teammate… and then to save his life. You need to decide, right now, which of those two things it's going to be from now on."

Sasuke glanced downward for a second. Then he looked back up at Kakashi.

"…If I couldn't do it then, what makes you think I'll ever be able to?"

For the briefest of moments, a faint, distant hint of bitterness seemed to cloud his expression. But then it cleared, and he looked at Kakashi firmly.

Kakashi regarded him, then nodded.

"All right. That's all I needed to hear. Then I'll help."

Sasuke gave a brief nod in return and looked back down. As he did so, Kakashi caught a momentary glimpse of the mark on his neck, and remembered one last thing.

"…I do have one more question for you, though," he said softly, and Sasuke, almost as if he could sense what he was thinking, suddenly tensed.

"When I brought you back, I noticed you had two holes in the back of your own shirt, but no wounds."

When Sasuke was silent, he pressed, "Do you know where they might have come from?"

"…It sounds like you already know," Sasuke finally stated.

Kakashi sighed, and wished that he didn't.

"…Both Shikamaru's team and a separate jounin squad described witnessing a second level of the curse seal. They said it gave the user an incredible amount of power, but in an abnormal form. It caused their bodies to transform somehow. And Shikamaru's team also reported that they found you in a barrel with a sealing jutsu on it when they initially caught up."

Sasuke again failed to respond, so finally Kakashi just said it.

"With that upgrade, it might be more difficult to control from now on, even with the sealing spell I put on it."

Sasuke's bandaged left hand silently moved up to touch his neck.

"…Why did you do it?" Kakashi finally asked.

"Because I needed the power!" Sasuke burst, whirling toward Kakashi with a sudden vehemence that almost took him aback. "I wasn't getting strong enough in Konoha! I had to do _something_!"

"You know that seal won't help you in the long run if you rely on it," Kakashi said firmly.

"Bullshit," Sasuke spat back.

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, but Sasuke continued. "That's not true. I've seen it. I've _seen_ how powerful it is—and I _needed_ it." His voice turned suddenly bitter. "I trained _nonstop _here for five years, and where the hell did it get me? _Nowhere_."

He cut off, drew in a sharp breath, and then as he let it out, closed his eyes and suddenly seemed to just deflate.

"…I'm never going to be strong enough," he said at last, his voice quietly defeated. "I'll never be able to beat him. Not on my own, like I was trying before. I'm not… I just can't."

"You're wrong," Kakashi stated, and Sasuke looked back at him tiredly.

"That curse seal… did you know, all it really does is draw out your own real power? Power that you would eventually be able to use on your own with enough time and training?"

He met Sasuke's eyes seriously, and the boy stared at him, stunned.

"You can beat Itachi," Kakashi said at last. "And you don't need Orochimaru's help to do it. You _can _do it, if you train until you master your own power."

He stood up. "And I'll help you do it, but only on one condition. …You promise not to run away again."

Sasuke closed his eyes, and was silent. Silent for so long, in fact, that Kakashi turned with a sigh and was just about to leave the room when, in a voice barely louder than a whisper, he finally heard his answer.

"…All right."

Kakashi turned to meet Sasuke's eyes one last time, and saw uncertainty still, but overshadowing that, a quiet determination. He held his gaze for a moment, then nodded.

_I believe you_.

He turned to step out the door, then remembered at the last moment and called back, "And there are two Anbu squads patrolling outside, just so you know. More than last time, so I'd appreciate it if you kept yourself out of trouble for now."

Sasuke looked back at him un-amused, and Kakashi gave him a little wave. Then he closed the door and set off toward the Hokage's chambers, leaving his student alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Though all of the highest-ranking shinobi played a small role in the politics of the village, there were only two official advisors to the Hokage: Homura and Koharu. They had been the Third's teammates in their youth, and nowadays served as an auxiliary branch of the Konoha government. It was in fact Homura and Koharu, along with the daimyo of the Fire Country, who had designated Tsunade as the Fifth Hokage after Sarutobi's death, and they continued to play a substantial counseling role in the Hokage's affairs. In truth, they had much more influence than most were actually aware of.

And as such, it was these two people, along with Jiraiya and the Hokage herself, who Kakashi now had to convince that Uchiha Sasuke was neither a criminal, nor a threat to Konoha.

Fortunately, the task was not quite as daunting as it potentially could have been. For all that Sasuke had done—or nearly done, anyway—the fact remained that even now, the Uchiha clan name still held a lot of weight. Moreover, Sasuke was still young, and that coupled with the tragedy of his clan proved to be extremely effective when it came to earning sympathy. And just as Kakashi had predicted, the fact that Tsunade herself had personal experience with Orochimaru's gift for manipulation also proved helpful to his student's case.

No, the truth was that convincing the Advisors to grant Sasuke a pardon was not the real difficulty at all. The real challenge that Kakashi now faced was to convince them that Sasuke, given the chance, would not simply try to leave all over again.

And that part of it was not quite so easy. Because even though Sasuke's word had been enough for Kakashi, it was going to take just a bit more than that for him to re-earn the trust of everyone else.

"…It's a problem," Tsunade said at last after Kakashi had concluded his report.

"The real question is how, short of locking him up or keeping him under 24-hour guard, we can actually guarantee that he'll stay put," Jiraiya mused.

"Yes, that's undoubtedly the issue…" Homura nodded as he considered. Kakashi eyed him closely; of all the people present, he suspected that Homura would be the most difficult to persuade when it came to what Kakashi had in mind. For that matter, Koharu was only slightly less of a challenge. On most issues, the two generally tended to be of the same mind, and in Kakashi's experience, both could be reluctant to take certain risks.

And as he'd expected, Homura did not disappoint now. "…Under the circumstances, however," the aging man continued slowly, "…I think we do need to consider that Uchiha may be better off kept under lock and guard for now."

"Doing that will only make things worse," Kakashi put in firmly. "Sasuke already feels that he isn't getting anywhere closer to his goal by training in Konoha. If you lock him up and take away any chance he has left of getting stronger, you'll also be taking away the only reason he has left for staying here at all."

"It won't matter if he has no choice _but_ to stay," Homura countered. "And considering the circumstances, that _is _the only way to ensure that he will not simply wait to take his chance, then slip away again and end up in Orochimaru's hands. Short of eliminating him entirely, that is."

"That's enough," Tsunade said sharply, and for a moment the room hung on the threatening tone of her voice.

"…I think Konoha has done enough to the Uchiha clan," Kakashi said very quietly.

There was a heavy pause.

"…Of course. I apologize, Tsunade," Homura said at last.

"It's pardoned. But that's enough." Tsunade met each of their gazes in turn with a serious and almost defiant glint in her eyes. "I will not consider either execution or long-term imprisonment as a means of punishment in this matter. That is final, and I will not speak of it again. I won't make any concessions on this issue."

"That's all well, then, Tsunade, and I agree with you," Koharu acknowledged, speaking up at last. "But the fact still remains that we need to decided on _some _course of action. Clearly we can't simply leave him on his own as if nothing had ever happened."

"And with Konoha still in its weakened state, we can't afford to keep him under Anbu guard indefinitely," Homura added.

Koharu nodded. "Our resources are stretched too thinly as it is; we need the Anbu out taking missions and keeping up appearances, not standing guard over a genin. On top of that, we already have them dealing with other looming threats like the Akatsuki."

"About that," Jiraiya interrupted suddenly, and all eyes turned to him. "My latest intelligence-gathering efforts have uncovered some interesting news about them, as well as Orochimaru. It seems that neither of them will be much of a danger for the next two to three years at least."

"What do you mean?" Tsunade asked after a pause.

"I mean that according to my intelligence, the Akatsuki won't be making another attempt on Naruto anytime soon. It seems they've determined that he doesn't yet pose a threat to them, so they plan to focus their efforts elsewhere for the time being. As for Orochimaru, he got impatient and decided, since he couldn't have Sasuke's body, to simply take another one. And I know for a fact that once he uses that particular jutsu of his, he can't attempt it again for at least three years."

"…You have proof of this?" Homura questioned.

"My sources have confirmed it, yes," Jiraiya assured. "The information is reliable."

"It doesn't mean that Orochimaru won't still try to make a play for Sasuke, though," Tsunade said thoughtfully, her brow furrowed in concern. "Even if he's of no use as a vessel for the time being, he may still decide that he wants Sasuke himself, and time to mold him into whatever he chooses."

"Exactly," said Kakashi. "And that's why it's crucial that _we_ get through to Sasuke first. The threat of Orochimaru won't disappear overnight, which is why we need to ensure that whatever we do to deal with the situation, it's aimed at the long-term. Simply putting Sasuke under guard won't solve anything. We need to hit at the heart of the problem, so that the next time Orochimaru comes calling, Sasuke will refrain from leaving of his own free will."

There was a brief silence. Finally, Koharu asked, "So what exactly do you propose, then, Kakashi?"

"Let me train him," Kakashi answered.

"…But you already _are _his instructor," Homura stated with a frown.

"Hardly," replied Kakashi. "At least not anymore. As the Godaime-sama can bear out, like every other shinobi in this village, I've been swamped overtime with missions since the recent invasion. I've hardly had time to sleep, let alone teach my students. And consequently, this means their training has started to fall by the wayside."

"So what you're suggesting is that we allow you to take time off from missions specifically to train Uchiha?" Homura said dubiously.

"Specifically, to train him and to serve as his guard," Kakashi expounded. "Since, as you quite rightly pointed out earlier, the current use of Anbu there is a waste. If you do need a guard, it only makes sense to get a single man who can do the job rather than sacrificing eight who are needed elsewhere, wouldn't you agree?"

He waited, and when he finally saw Koharu nod thoughtfully in accord, he knew he had won this round.

"It does make sense," the elderly woman conceded. "And it's the most viable out of all the options we've considered thus far."

"I have one question, though, Kakashi," Jiraiya put in, looking at him critically. "Where exactly does this plan place your _other_ students?"

Kakashi returned his gaze coolly for a moment. Then, finally, he asked, "Well, am I to assume by this point that you've taken Naruto on as your own pupil?"

For a moment, Jiraiya was silent.

"…For all intents and purposes, yes," he finally replied.

"Well, then," Kakashi said, his tone betraying none of the sudden odd and unfounded resentment—slight, but tangible—that he felt at hearing the toad sennin acknowledge it, even though it couldn't be helped and was partly his own fault to begin with. He turned to face Tsunade, and continued, "And can I assume that what I've heard about Sakura is also true?"

Tsunade had already closed her eyes and was nodding in consent, knowing what was coming. "Yes. I accepted her as my apprentice."

"…Then that's that," Kakashi said finally. "So this way, all three will be accounted for."

At last, Homura motioned his head in acceptance. "Very well. If the rest of you agree, then I consent to putting Uchiha Sasuke under Kakashi's custody until further notice."

"Not under my custody," Kakashi corrected casually. "Just my supervision."

There was a slight pause.

"For all intents, though, they're the same thing," Koharu stated. "…Unless you mean to say that Uchiha would not actually be under your keeping?"

"I don't intend that to be the case, as a matter of fact," said Kakashi. "Though I definitely agree that he shouldn't be allowed to stay anywhere on his own for now, under the circumstances."

"Where do you propose putting him, then?" Tsunade questioned, and Kakashi smiled.

"What I propose," he answered, "is killing two birds with one stone. What Sasuke needs to relearn more than anything else now is teamwork. And since we can't yet risk letting him be on his own, I think he would most benefit from staying with a member of his own team."

Jiraiya slowly raised an eyebrow.

"…Putting the two of them together again?" he said at last. "You're sure that's a good idea?"

"More than that, even; I think it's essential," Kakashi replied. "For both of them. And from a strategic point of view at the very least, it makes sense to keep the two of them together, since both are still targets at the moment. Not that I don't trust your intel," he added quickly, "but there's always the chance that the Akatsuki may change their minds. And putting Naruto and Sasuke both in one place minimizes the necessary amount of security."

Jiraiya crossed his arms for a minute as he considered, then finally gave a sigh of relent and glanced over at Tsunade. She nodded.

"…Very well, then. So it's settled."

She stood up, then added resignedly, "And let's just pray the two of them don't end up trying to kill each other again."

* * *

_-to be continued-_

* * *

_Jinchuuriki _– Power of human sacrifice; basically, someone with a demon in them, like Naruto or Gaara  
_Sennin _– Sage; hermit

(Both terms are pretty standard, but just in case…)

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

I'm trying to be as accurate as possible in the details of this fic, so let me know if something is off. The description of Homura and Koharu is based on what I've gleaned from going over the manga, but I think it's more or less near the mark. As for what Kakashi says about the curse seal, that's based on information from the second databook. But yeah, if there's something I missed or screwed up, please call me on it.

And thanks to everyone for all of the reviews so far (wonderful, addicting little things, those); it's really appreciated. Gonrie, since you asked, I fully intend to keep this a gen fic all the way through to the end, or at least pretty damn close to it. But when it comes to favorite pairings, SasuNaruSasu is indeed my OTP, so even though I have no real plans for romance in the story (the plot doesn't really require it, and I won't throw anything in that doesn't fit), you never know.

And miako made some excellent points about Kabuto (and I've wondered about that a little myself). I did try to make him as ambiguous as possible in the prologue, even though I couldn't completely succeed because of what I needed to have him do. But one can always make the argument that by going after Naruto, he may really have just been trying to manipulate Sasuke, or something bizarre and unnecessarily complicated like that. …Or it could just have been exactly what it looked like, since he did come close to killing Naruto during the Sannin battle. Ahh, the mysteries of life. XD


	4. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: **_If I had a million dollars/(If I had a million dollars!)/Well, I'd buy you a house/(I would buy you a house!)/And if I had a million dollars/I'd buy your loooooooooooove…_

…But seriously, I would buy Naruto. Because I still don't friggin' own it.

* * *

_I escape every now and then  
And to think, I find myself back here again  
And again  
I used to know who I was until you came along  
I return to the only place I've ever felt that I belong_

_--Nine Inch Nails, "Home"_

* * *

**Path of No Regrets: Renewal  
**

_**-Chapter 3-**_

_He was the only one alive._

_The street was filled with bodies bathed in moonlight. He stood alone, the metallic, acrid smell of their blood filling his nostrils and making his stomach turn. Everyone here had been a member of his clan. Everyone here, he had known. Everyone here had been **alive** so short a time ago that it seemed impossible. _

_Now they were all dead. He was the only one left. The only one alive._

…_Except for him._

_(why did you do it?)_

_(to measure my capacity)_

_He didn't understand. His brother was not a killer, his brother could not have done this._

_(but he **did**)_

_He saw his parents standing in the dojo. He saw Itachi raise his katana and ruthlessly cut them down. He saw them hit the floor, saw them lying there, dead, their blood pooling slowly beneath them. He stared into his father's lifeless eyes— _

_(and for a moment they weren't his father's, they were blue instead)_

—_as tears silently flowed from his. Fear and grief and horror filled him, and he ran._

_And then his brother was there again, and he was staring at him, coldly, spitefully._

_(foolish little brother)_

_And all of a sudden, his eyes changed. Became crueler, darker, deadlier._

_(the Mangekyou Sharingan)_

_(you are also capable of obtaining these eyes)_

_(but there is one requirement)_

_And then suddenly, it wasn't Itachi standing there at all, but Naruto._

_(…you must kill your closest friend)_

_Then Itachi was behind him, raising the katana again, and Sasuke screamed for the idiot to run, but he didn't, he just looked at him—_

_(what about all the time you spent with Team Seven, was all of that just meaningless to you?)_

—_and suddenly it wasn't Itachi holding the katana at all, but Sasuke himself._

_(it wasn't meaningless)_

_(you have become my closest friend)_

_And Naruto stared at him, betrayed, as the katana swung down. And Sasuke—_

—Sasuke woke up.

* * *

It happened so fast that for a minute he didn't recognize or remember where he was at all. All he could think about was the dream. The nightmare-images kept flashing brutally through his mind as he lay there gasping for breath, and he pushed his palms hard against his eyes in a desperate attempt to make them go away.

It was his left arm's sharp jolt of protest at the sudden movement that actually snapped him out of it and brought him back to where he was. He stared up at the stark, white ceiling, and let out a deep sigh when he finally remembered. The hospital.

Sasuke hated hospitals. He had ever since he'd woken up alone in one five years ago, with a stinging injury in his arm very similar to the one he felt now, and had realized in that moment that he'd just become an orphan. And none of his subsequent hospital stays had helped much to change his initial impression.

He pushed himself up gingerly on his elbows and waited, and when none of his muscles trembled or threatened to give out the way they had the last time he'd attempted this, he pulled himself carefully up to a sitting position. Having done so, he closed his eyes again.

…It wasn't like it was the first time he'd dreamed about the murder of his clan. On the contrary; sometimes it seemed like that was all he ever dreamed about. By this point, he should have almost been used to it. But he wasn't. He hated that—that the nightmares never got any easier to bear, that the pain and dread and the sick feeling in his stomach never lessened over time.

And this time had been even worse. Because Naruto had never before visited any of those dreams. He had never before seen Naruto's face appear among those of his dead family; never before seen Naruto stare at him, _into _him, as if he'd failed to save him too.

_You never failed to save him, no; you just tried to kill him._

He clenched his left fist, hard, and this time welcomed the pain that flared up, because it distracted him, if just for a moment.

He couldn't stand this.

He was a mess. He was broken and conflicted and unsure and he _couldn't stand it_—he _hated _not having any idea of just what the hell he was supposed to do next.

It was Naruto's fault. _Damn _it. Before he'd come along, it had been easy; Sasuke had known exactly what he was and exactly what path he was supposed to walk. He was an avenger, and his plans in life were simple—kill Itachi, and restore his clan. And even that last part wasn't truly essential; if he died taking Itachi down, that was still just fine with him. In fact, some days he even thought he might prefer it.

There had been nothing else, just revenge, and it had been easy that way. He'd trained and trained, hating and spiting his brother just like he had said, living only to kill him. He had been willing to do anything, absolutely anything, to reach his goal.

And then _he'd_ come along, and somehow everything had changed.

And he hated it. Because now it wasn't simple. Because now he _knew_, for certain, that there were some things he _wasn't _willing to do to kill his brother. Or at the very least, there was one thing. He would not kill his closest friend. He couldn't.

And that one thing… that one damned thing… it changed _everything_.

Where did that put him if he was no longer willing to put his revenge above everything else? Where did it leave him if he wanted Naruto to _live _more than he wanted Itachi to die? And why was he so _weak_—so completely, unforgivably weak—that he hadn't even been able to leave when he'd finally started to _see_ how weak he was getting? He'd failed even at that.

And now he was stuck sitting here in this _fucking _hospital while a bunch of aging shinobi who didn't even know him decided his fate, and all the while his goal, the one that had been so simple, the one he had been so sure of, drifted further and further away.

It was all Naruto's fault. But the worst part was that he could not, even now, make himself regret for even a second that he had not killed him.

…So maybe, he supposed, the fault was really his own.

He thought back to the Valley of the End again, remembering what had happened when Kabuto showed up. He remembered the horror and urgency he'd felt when Kabuto had gone after Naruto, and how he'd just jumped in, without even thinking about it, to stop him.

He sighed, thinking back to what Kakashi had said.

"_You need to decide, right now, which of those two things it's going to be from now on."_

…Well, he _had_ decided, hadn't he? At least he did know that much—he would never again let his revenge drive him _that _far. No matter what happened, he would not let Naruto or Sakura get dragged down along with him, ever. He grimaced—how could he have been so stupid? That had even been one of the reasons he'd _left_ in the first place. To keep them out of it, to keep them safe. He'd protected them this far, and he wasn't about to let his brother change that now. Itachi had taken enough from him as it was.

A bleak defiance swept through him, and a grim smile touched his lips. Yes, at least he did have that one bit of surety, if nothing else.

_I won't become what you are. I won't become a murderer. At least, not until it's finally **your** blood on my hands._

And if that meant not ever gaining _those_ eyes… well, so be it. He'd just find another way, then. He had to.

Cautiously, he slid out of bed and onto the cool floor, carefully testing his weight on his legs before finally deciding it was safe to walk. Ever so slowly—he could move, yes, but it still hurt—he made his way to the bathroom adjoining his room. After closing the door behind him, he strode to the mirror and judged his reflection with a frown.

He didn't look much better on the surface than he felt on the inside. His face was scratched, bandaged, and beaten, and judging from what else he could see, the rest of him was not much better off. Gingerly, he lifted his shirt to examine the damage underneath, only to find that much of his torso was in fact one big, ugly, still-healing bruise. It brought back more memories of the battle with Naruto—he recalled rather clearly being slammed into the side of a cliff several times, among other things—and he fought the urge to wince as he started to pull his shirt back down.

He paused. Then slowly, tentatively, he reached back with his good hand and carefully moved it along his shoulder blades.

…No scars. At least, nothing that he could actually feel.

His fingers hovered over his back for a moment longer. Then he shuddered, and decided that it was probably for the best.

* * *

Kakashi—it could have been anyone, he supposed, but he just assumed it was Kakashi—had been nice enough to leave some of his clothes lying on the bathroom counter, so after washing up as best as he could, he changed and stepped back out again, wondering just what to do now.

His hospital room, not particularly inviting even at the best of times, looked even less so now that he felt slightly more refreshed and much less inclined to lie back down on that uncomfortable bed. But the trouble was, there wasn't much else he _could _do. Under most circumstances, this was more or less the point where he would either sneak out past the nurses outside, or bypass them entirely by simply escaping through the window. (He wasn't particularly well-known for following doctors' orders to the letter, and well… he really _did _hate hospitals.) But under most circumstances, he didn't have two squads of Anbu waiting for him just outside the door.

He sat down to consider it for a moment, wondering what the most likely outcome would be if he did decide to leave the room. Would he be pounced upon as soon as he touched the door handle, or would they actually allow him to move about? Part of the answer, he supposed, rested on the exact reasons why they were guarding him to begin with. Was it to keep him from leaving again (probably, although if they really believed he could do it in his current condition, they were sure giving him an awful lot of credit)… or was it to keep others from getting to _him_?

That idea gave him pause and sent him reflecting back on Orochimaru, an aspect of his current situation that he hadn't given much thought to until now. Maybe he _should_ have been thinking about him a little more, though. There was no doubt that the issue of Orochimaru was a serious one. And the man certainly possessed incredible power, he knew that much. But when he considered it now, he realized that he knew surprisingly little else about the person who, not three days ago, he had been so willing to give up everything he knew to go train under.

…In fact, he didn't even know why Orochimaru was so apparently interested in him. At the time, it hadn't seemed important enough to question. He knew that Orochimaru did want him, and was willing to offer him the power he needed, and that was enough. If he was completely honest with himself, the fact was that a large part of him hadn't really _wanted _to know. Because deep down, he'd known from the start that the answer would not be something he liked.

After all, nothing in this world came free. Or at least, nothing did that was worth having to begin with.

And the one thing that he did know for certain about Orochimaru was that he was bad. He never had learned the specifics, and he'd only even met him once for that matter, but once had been more than enough. It had been an encounter Sasuke was not likely to soon forget. Orochimaru's very presence had held an air of menace to it. He was sadistic in a calm and refined way that had been profoundly disturbing, and more than once Sasuke had been utterly certain that he was going to die.

But he hadn't. Instead, Orochimaru had left him with that parting gift, the curse seal, and the implicit promise that the power it offered had been only a taste of what Orochimaru himself could give.

And because Sasuke was so desperate for that power, because he had been so sure that he _needed _it, he had willingly ignored the rest. He'd turned a deliberate blind eye to the consequences that, in truth, he'd still known would be there. He had managed to convince himself that it didn't matter—that whatever Orochimaru really wanted from him, he could deal with as it came. Because after all, in the end nothing could be more important than killing Itachi. And that goal was worth the risk.

…Only now, he wasn't so sure.

"_He just wants your body to use as his container! You might not come back! You might get **killed**!"_

At the time, he had ignored Naruto, just like he'd ignored his own doubts about Orochimaru's intentions. Now, though, he couldn't help but wonder if what Naruto had said might not have been closer to the truth than he wanted to admit. He wasn't even sure what the part about _his container_ meant, but the rest… loathe as he was to acknowledge it, the rest may have very well been close to the mark.

It wasn't like he'd ever expected to just march into Hidden Sound, demand that Orochimaru train him, and then just leave freely again when the time finally came. Not really. But it wasn't really like he'd had a plan, either. He'd just…

He'd just been winging it and trusting to luck. And the more he thought about it now, the more he started to realize just how stupid it had been.

Trusting to luck… if there was a more surefire way to get killed, he'd yet to hear it.

…Shit.

He reached up toward the back of his neck, then stopped when he caught himself. That was quickly becoming a habit, and one far too revealing for his tastes. It was that damn seal that had started all of this trouble to begin with.

He sighed, then wondered again about Kakashi's earlier words.

"_That curse seal… did you know, all it really does is draw on your own power?"_

Could that really be true? Was it even possible? It sounded far too much like wishful thinking for him to even dare to believe. If getting power without consequences from Orochimaru had been a stretch, how much more of one was it to think he could possibly gain that kind of power just by training normally, especially since absolutely nothing had come of that in the past?

The strength he'd felt when using the new form of the curse seal for the first time had been unimaginable, like absolutely nothing he'd ever experienced. How could Kakashi, or _anyone_, least of all himself, possibly believe that something like _that _had been his own power?

The answer was: he couldn't. But it seemed like he had no other choice.

…So here he was, back in Konoha, all guarantees of achieving his goal now gone… and of all the ironies, the only option he had left was to, once more, simply trust to luck.

He closed his eyes for a moment, then looked at the door and abruptly decided that in that case, he might as well just take his chances.

* * *

As it turned out, the Anbu did not pounce as soon as he touched the door handle, nor did they spring when he stepped out cautiously into the hall, shutting the door behind him. In fact, at first he didn't even see them at all. The hallway was nearly deserted, with the exception of a pair of orderlies chatting in hushed tones at one end, and a nurse wheeling an IV away down the other. No one had seemed to take notice when he left his room, and no one seemed to be paying the slightest bit of attention to him now. Which seemed slightly off, to say the least.

It took him a moment before he finally noticed the faint but telling hint of chakra down at the far end of the corridor. Genjutsu, and a masterfully applied one at that; even though he now knew it was there, he would not be able to see through it at all unless he activated his Sharingan. It took him a moment further before he caught a glimpse of the peculiar shadow standing in one of the other rooms and watching him through the window in the door. And it was still another moment before he realized that the nurse who had been moving the IV had paused by another door, and was now innocuously reading something scribbled on a pad.

Huh.

After a pause of consideration, he finally headed down the hall anyway (although in the opposite direction of the nurse; he didn't feel like tempting fate). Kakashi hadn't specifically said not to leave the hospital, after all; all he'd said was to stay out of trouble. And if his "guards" had decided to be nice and unobtrusive for the time being, then he wasn't about to start arguing with it. As long as they left him alone, far be it from him to question their motives. He just wanted to get out of this place.

He turned a corner, then descended a flight of stairs, emerging on a more active level of the building. Here there were several doctors, nurses, and patients milling about, some engaged in conversation, some striding hurriedly past the others, and some simply loitering about or apparently stretching their legs. He slipped between two of them and made his way toward the elevator, brushing past a couple more as they headed the opposite way. Then he passed another boy around his own age, and frowned as he felt a brief, puzzling tingle of familiarity.

Suddenly, it dawned on him just where he had seen that face before, and before he could stop himself, he had turned around in shock. He wondered if he was just imagining things, and for a moment he was sure he was. But then the other teen began to turn as well, his eyes also wide with surprise… and yes, it was definitely him.

"…Chouji?" he mumbled anyway just to be certain, failing to hide the slight note of incredulity in his voice.

The other boy had blinked, but a moment later a warm, if hesitant smile appeared on his face. "Sasuke!" he said, and if there was perhaps something slightly reluctant about the way he said it, it was still overshadowed by friendliness and sincere relief, and Sasuke did not give it much thought.

Especially since there was something else that had already drawn his immediate attention.

Sasuke did not know Akimichi Chouji particularly well, but they had been in the same class back at the Academy. And Chouji had been one of the few people who'd never fawned over Sasuke, competed with him, or talked about him behind his back, so Sasuke had never harbored any ill will toward the other boy.

And perhaps that was why, even though they'd never much interacted and Sasuke certainly didn't consider him a friend, as he now stared at the undeniably and unhealthily _thin _genin before him, a sick uneasiness settled itself deep into his gut.

His first thought was to ask what had happened, but something inside of him kept his mouth shut. Because part of him—the part that felt uneasy—already had a good idea of the answer, and his second thought was that maybe he didn't really want to know.

So instead, at something of a loss, he just stared back. Finally, Chouji answered the unspoken question with a simple, sheepish shrug.

"I, uh… kind of ran into some trouble on my last mission."

For a moment he glanced down awkwardly, but when he looked back up, his expression was friendly. "But I'm all right now."

Sasuke gave a hesitant nod, then cast his gaze downward himself and opened his mouth to say something. But when he still could not think of anything, he pressed his lips together and simply nodded once more.

Chouji nodded in return, then gave one last shrug and turned to go back on his way. Just before he took a step, however, Sasuke finally found his voice.

"…What happened to the others?"

Chouji turned, looking surprised for a moment, but then he smiled. "They're all right too. Shikamaru broke a finger, but otherwise he's fine, and Neji and Kiba had some more serious injuries, but they're recovering pretty well. Naruto, too."

The mention of Naruto only sent more guilt running through Sasuke, and he sighed. Finally, he looked up and met Chouji's eyes.

"I never asked any of you to come after me."

Chouji looked back thoughtfully for a moment. Then finally, he answered, "…I know. But if you're comrades, you don't have to ask, right? That's part of being a ninja."

With that, he turned and headed down the hall. Sasuke watched him for a moment.

"Chouji," he finally called.

Chouji glanced back over his shoulder, and Sasuke looked away.

"…I'm glad you're all right."

It was the closest he could get to an apology. Luckily, Chouji seemed to understand. He smiled again.

"Same to you."

Then he turned and continued back on his way. After a moment, Sasuke did the same. When he reached the main floor, he ducked into the first out-of-the-way room he could find, opened the window, and smoothly slipped out, no longer caring whether the Anbu tried to stop him or not.

He only paused again when he had finally put the hospital out of his immediate view. Then he briefly considered whether to go home, go someplace else, or just continue wandering about.

It didn't take that long to decide. He didn't feel like heading home much more than he felt like going back to the hospital, but his aching muscles were already starting to protest once again. So finally, he turned down a road and started heading toward a place where he knew that he would be able to just sit and think for a while.

He had a lot to think about anyway.

* * *

_-to be continued-_

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

If it seems to anyone like I'm purposely putting off Naruto and Sasuke's inevitable meeting, it's only because I am. I just wanted to give them a little breathing space before I finally throw them back together. Give them time to process everything first, and so forth. But now that that's finally done with, well… _(shifty eyes)_

Concerning Sasuke and Orochimaru… well, the question of just how much Sasuke actually knows about Oro (or knew at this point, anyway) is something that can probably be debated on and on, and I've certainly seen my fair share of said debates. But for the purposes of this story, I went with my own interpretation, which is that Sasuke didn't really know much at all. I'm basing this on the fact that Naruto was clueless himself until he heard more about Oro from Jiraiya during the Tsunade Arc, and on the fact that what Naruto shouted to Sasuke at the Valley of the End really _was _pretty vague. If someone screamed at me that I was wanted as "a container", I know I would personally be a little confused. XD So anyway, that's my reasoning.

Thanks again for all of the reviews; it's amazing how much they really do encourage me to write. I'll get home after a long day wanting nothing more than to just pass out in bed—then I'll read a new review and all of a sudden I'm totally inspired. So just so you know, you guys are the reason I'm actually keeping my pace with this fic. You all kick ass. :)


	5. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **When Masashi Kishimoto gets bored, he goes out and creates highly addictive manga series like Naruto. When I get bored, I sit back and _read _highly addictive manga series like Naruto. Either that or I, like… sleep or something. So clearly I am not the type of person who could ever own this series.

* * *

_We're rotten fruit, we're damaged goods  
What the hell, we've got nothing more to lose  
One gust and we will probably crumble_

_--Radiohead, "Backdrifts"_

* * *

**Path of No Regrets: Renewal  
**

_**-Chapter 4-**_

He couldn't have been sitting on the dock for more than an hour before Naruto showed up.

When Sasuke felt the familiar chakra presence edging up behind him, his first instinct, somewhat childish but powerful all the same, was to run away. He reluctantly ignored it. His second instinct was to scream in frustration; this he also managed to suppress. But it was difficult as hell to do.

He _knew _Naruto didn't come here normally; he'd probably only passed the spot a handful of times in his entire life. He had no reason to come here. If Naruto was unhappy—and Sasuke admitted that the blond had probably never had more reason to be pissed at the world than he did now—he went to Ichiraku Ramen, or maybe sat a bit in that stupid swing of his at the Academy playground. He didn't come _here_, to the quiet dock where Sasuke was currently ruminating. This was Sasuke's domain, where he came when he didn't feel like people (which was often), and didn't feel like being at home (which was less so, but not by much). Where he trained or studied or just sat to think, like he was doing now. This was _his _place.

So if Naruto was _here _then it could only mean that he had come specifically to seek out Sasuke. And Sasuke didn't know why, but for some reason—or a hundred reasons—that fact made him want to scream.

He didn't. Instead he just sat there, as Naruto slowly walked up behind him, and… waited. For what, he didn't know.

A moment of absolute silence passed before Sasuke realized what was quickly making him so uncomfortable. Naruto was too quiet. Far too quiet. And for all the times he'd told Naruto to shut up in the past, he found that now that his rival had actually done so, he didn't like it. Not at all.

Even when the other boy had caught up to him at the Valley of the End, he had never seemed to be at a loss for words. Naruto always talked. He babbled, he chattered, he ranted. He did all of his thinking out loud, outside his head, instead of inward where Sasuke took painstaking care to do his. Even if you couldn't count on whatever came out of Naruto's mouth to be particularly _smart_, you could always count on it to be there, regardless. Something.

Anything.

He almost felt ridiculous when Naruto finally did speak, because for a moment there he had been bordering on desperation. Scratch that—he _did_ feel ridiculous. Especially because what Naruto said was so utterly, maddeningly normal and stupid and _Naruto_-ish that the idea of ever feeling anxious over the words was ridiculous in itself.

"…Dammit, I'm hungry."

Just… for the love of…

Of _all_ the stupid things.

"_I'm hungry." _No awkward greetings, no absurd how-are-you-doings _(oh, well you know… trying to kill you and all really took a lot out of me, but everything's just fine now, thanks so much for asking)_, no bitter accusations, no angry roundhouse punches to the jaw. Just, "_I'm hungry."_ And it was pure Naruto.

The only thing that might possibly have been stupider was the fact that it—almost—put him at ease. For just a moment, anyway. Because this, this he could deal with. This, he understood—his reaction came almost as naturally as breathing.

"Well then, go get something to eat, idiot."

He hadn't yet managed to actually turn and look at him, but he could practically feel Naruto's glare on his back nonetheless.

"Well, I couldn't, could I, seeing as I was looking for you."

It was hard to miss the accusatory tone that hung in the air following that remark, so Sasuke chose not to reply.

Silence.

Finally, Naruto said, quiet but straight-to-the-point, "Are you going to run away again?"

Sasuke didn't say anything. He just sighed, then pointed.

Confused, Naruto followed his gaze. "Huh?" He squinted. "What are you pointing at? I don't see anything…"

"Look closer, stupid."

Naruto ignored the jab, which for some reason bothered Sasuke a little bit, and squinted further, tilting his head more toward the direction indicated. Sasuke mentally counted to three in his head. Then, quite suddenly, Naruto's eyes widened. "What the—"

Sasuke pointed again.

Naruto followed his hand, blinked for a moment, then made a small noise of surprise as his mouth dropped open slightly.

Sasuke shifted to point behind them. Then back in front. Then at several nearby trees. When he was through and Naruto had finally finished glancing around, he stared at Sasuke with one eyebrow raised. "Is that all of them?"

Sasuke shrugged. "I thought there were supposed to be eight, so either they're a man short or he's taking a bathroom break."

"Or you missed him."

"Not likely."

"Asshole. Gets another stupid dot in his eyes and acts like he's freaking God or something."

Sasuke smirked. His Anbu guards, apparently having finally tired of this little display at their expense, silently stood and simultaneously jumped from their former hiding places, disappearing to who-knew-where. Not that Sasuke wouldn't eventually find their new spots too, of course, but hey, you had to do what you had to do.

Naruto just stood there for a moment, shaking his head. And for an instant, just an instant, Sasuke let himself relax and forget that the tension was still there between them, and that beneath the automatic pattern of banter and insults, the air was still heavily laden with everything that both of them were consciously not speaking of.

Eventually, however, the moment passed, and he was left with no choice but to face it once more.

Naruto shifted his weight as if he were going to sit, then paused, hesitant, as if unable to make up his mind. Finally he straightened once more and put his hands in his pockets. He glanced back at the row of trees where the Anbu had been, then back at Sasuke.

"So you're not running because of them, huh," he said at last.

Sasuke sighed and finally looked back at him. Naruto met his eyes with a gaze that was surprisingly cool and difficult to read. Sasuke fought the ridiculous urge to wince—he was really starting to despise this whole guilt trip—and instead kept his own gaze as composed and steady as he could manage. "…I'm not running, period."

Naruto glanced downward. When he looked back again, his eyes were doubtful. For some reason, this angered Sasuke; he scowled. "I promised Kakashi already; if you don't believe me, you can talk to him."

"I believe you," was all Naruto said in reply.

But a moment later, his gaze did finally soften. He eyed Sasuke thoughtfully, then turned to look out at the water. Sasuke kept his eyes on him until Naruto finally spoke again.

"So how is it that of all of us, he's the one that actually managed to knock some sense into you?"

Sasuke felt a rush of indignation—just because he regretted what he'd done didn't give Naruto the right to dismiss it like there hadn't been any basis behind it. Especially since Naruto of all people would never truly understand why he'd done it anyway. "Because he offered me an _alternative_," he said angrily. "Not just empty talk about teamwork and make-believe ideals."

Naruto shot him a sharp glance. "It wasn't."

Sasuke glared. "What?"

"Empty talk," Naruto said. His blue eyes met Sasuke's fiercely. "None of that was empty."

Caught suddenly off-guard by this, Sasuke could only blink back in response. He sighed.

"Naruto, I just—"

"Look, I don't want to talk about it, okay?" Naruto cut in before he could finish, shifting restlessly and once more moving his gaze toward the lake. "Just…" He seemed to falter for a moment. "…It's over now. So…"

He trailed off, but his meaning was clear enough. Sasuke looked away as well, narrowing his eyes as the fading sun reflected off the water.

"…Fine."

Silence fell between them again, still heavy as ever, and Sasuke bit back another sigh. Of course it was silent—what the hell else were they supposed to do now, talk about the weather? Exhaustion set in on him suddenly. It was just too much, too soon; this was yet another draining event in a day that had already seen a series of draining things. He couldn't deal with this right now, and the last thing he wanted was to continue to sit here with Naruto just standing awkwardly off to the side.

"You should go get that something to eat now," he said finally.

"…Yeah," Naruto replied.

He turned, took a few steps, then paused. Sasuke did not bother to glance back. Finally, the footsteps resumed and in a few moments, Naruto was gone.

Sasuke remained sitting until he'd located all of the Anbu once more. Then he silently climbed to his feet and walked back down the dock himself, heading toward home. Suddenly, the only thing he wanted to do was sleep.

* * *

Tsunade stifled a yawn, then immediately straightened and did her best to give the impression of having been hard at work as Kakashi entered the room. It wasn't as though she hadn't actually _been _working, of course—far from it—but her job was demanding, and today had been an especially trying day, and it was getting very late, and… okay, so maybe her mind _had_ been wandering a little bit, but it would be unfair to say that she had been slacking off. She'd gotten plenty of work done, and most anyone else in her position would have been doing the exact same thing. It wasn't like she could just keep running nonstop, after all.

…And it certainly wasn't as though Hatake Kakashi could justifiably say anything on the topic of slacking off. The jounin had made quite a name for himself concerning his own less-than-reliable habits, particularly in the area of timeliness. In fact, come to think of it, he was late in his delivery of the very mission outline he was presumably carrying now; she could have sworn she'd asked to have it handed in a good several hours earlier. She frowned in disapproval as he strolled amiably to her desk.

"Good evening, Hokage-sama," he hummed as he handed her not one but several scrolls.

"Good evening yourself, Kakashi," she answered none-too-good-naturedly as she took the scrolls from him. "What's all this? I only asked for _one_ mission outline…" She paused as she looked over the rolls of parchment. "You've given me…"

"The others are the reports from my last two missions," Kakashi supplied for her.

She glared up at him. "Your last _two _missions?"

"I realize I was a bit late in preparing them," he answered, not looking the slightest bit nonplussed.

"A _bit_—?" she began breaking off with a sigh. Deciding that it wasn't worth it, she just shook her head in annoyance and opened up the first scroll. As she started to look it over, though, she couldn't help but mutter, "And you're late with this one, too."

"I apologize," he said simply. "I had some business to take care of first."

"What kind of business?" she asked distractedly as she skimmed over the details.

"I was visiting an old friend I hadn't talked to in a few days."

Despite herself, Tsunade paused and glanced back at Kakashi, not without sympathy. But his face was as damnably unreadable as ever—he had always been that way, even back when he was a child—so after a moment she gave it up and went back to the scroll. She did, however, reluctantly let the subject of its punctuality drop.

A few minutes later, she raised an eyebrow at a particular line in the report. "…You want to move both of them?" she asked dubiously. "Is that really necessary? It seems excessive."

"I think it's for the best," he answered. "It may not be ideal, but neither are the other options."

"That may just be the first time I've heard anyone refer to the Uchiha mansion as a less than ideal place to live," Tsunade mused wryly.

"It's perfectly livable—just not for them," Kakashi replied. "Sasuke in particular. That house has too many ghosts, I think."

"That may be true, but it's my understanding that he's lived in it until now."

"Exactly," said Kakashi with a wry look of his own. "And we've all seen how well that worked out."

"Hmm." Tsunade considered it for a moment, but found that she couldn't really argue. "…And Naruto's apartment, then?"

"There's nothing actually wrong with it, from what I've seen. The only problem is that it's too small," he explained. "Just a bedroom and a small kitchen, really. And while that may work for him, I'd rather not force the two of them to share it. I want to keep them close, but not _that _close. They'll still both need space… otherwise…" He trailed off.

"Otherwise we'll end up needing a new apartment anyway," Tsunade sighed. "All right; it's a hassle, but it seems there's no way around it. Now, then…" She skimmed a few more paragraphs. "Only one Anbu detachment on guard?"

"Obviously four Anbu alone wouldn't be sufficient against the likes of Orochimaru or the Akatsuki, but neither would two or three times as many," Kakashi reasoned. "And as I've said, it's a waste of resources considering what we've learned. So the only real reason to have Anbu there is to continue to discourage Sasuke from leaving again." He paused, rubbing his chin. "…I don't believe it's truly necessary, but consider this a precaution for now. The Advisors will be able to sleep securely at night, and with any luck, in a few weeks there won't be any need for the squad at all."

Tsunade nodded as she reached the end of the scroll. "Very well." She looked it up and down again thoughtfully, then finally folded her hands and looked back at him. "…I suppose all we can really do now is trust that you'll do your job."

He looked rather thoughtful himself for a moment, then nodded. "I intend to."

"Good luck." She leaned back and nodded toward the door, indicating that he was dismissed, then reluctantly reached for another of the delivered scrolls. As she began to unroll it, however, she slowed, noticing that Kakashi had paused on his way out and was now looking rather reflectively at a corner of the room. She followed his gaze to the pile of novice medical scrolls that lay on a table by the wall.

"They're for her, yes," she said quietly.

"Of course." He reached up to scratch behind one ear with a small smile. "Well, I'm trusting that you'll do your job as well."

He strode the rest of the way to the door, then paused one last time.

"…She's brilliant, and she has enormous potential," he said softly. "She's just never had the motivation until now." She thought she caught the tiniest glimpse of regret in his eyes, before it vanished with a mild shrug. "Well, good night, then."

With that, he disappeared out the door, leaving Tsunade to her paperwork once more.

She regarded the medical scrolls for a few more minutes; then with a sigh of resignation, she got back to work.

* * *

Sasuke jolted awake with a start, his heart pounding, his chest thumping, and his mind's eye blazing with the image of Itachi killing their parents. For a moment, it was all he could do not to throw up.

He sat there for a few minutes, trying to calm himself down, all the while burning with shame and disgust at himself. This was his second nightmare in only a matter of hours, and both had left him more shaken than he could remember being in a long time. He gripped his blanket tightly—what the hell was wrong with him? _Get a grip!_ He wasn't a child anymore; he had no business being like this. He gritted his teeth, realized he was trembling, then a moment later seized a pillow and whipped it at the floor in frustration.

_Get a **grip**_, he thought again furiously. What would he have done if he'd woken up like this in Hidden Sound? He wasn't _seven_ anymore, he couldn't afford to sit awake in bed shivering from night-terrors. No one cared; no one was going to comfort him; this was reality and he either had to face it or hide away scared for the rest of his life.

…He was still shaking.

With a sudden growl he hurled himself from his bed. A moment later he turned, grabbed another pillow, and heaved it toward the window for good measure. He stood there for a beat, breathing heavily, then abruptly spun on his feet and left the room. He didn't bother to turn on a light; the last thing he wanted was to attract the attention of the Anbu prowling outside, or at least more than he already had. He could see well enough in the dark anyway.

He didn't pay attention to where he was going, other than to consciously steer well clear of the dojo; the images from his dream were already vivid enough without him conveniently providing them a reference. It was perhaps because he was so preoccupied with this that as a result, he didn't realize where his feet were leading him… until he found himself standing right outside another door that he had habitually avoided for most of the past five years.

For a very long moment, Sasuke simply stood there. Then, after arguing futilely with himself, he moved his hand to the door, where it lingered, hesitant. He slid it open a crack, paused uncertainly, and then turned to leave. He made it a few steps… then suddenly turned around again, stalked back down the hall, threw the door open and stepped in before he could talk himself out it. He took a deep breath.

He was standing in his parents' room.

The air was still and heavy here; the room hadn't been occupied in years, though it was still clean. And the furniture, the scrolls hanging on the walls… everything was exactly the same as it had been when his parents were still alive. The housekeeper who came by every few weeks was instructed to take care of all the rooms, even the ones he didn't use, but not to touch, move, or replace anything. He had thought about it a few times, but in the end he'd always decided against it. As much as he denied it, there were some things that, try as he might, he simply could not yet let go of.

He took a few steps, absentmindedly reaching to straighten a pile of books on his father's shelf. He couldn't remember his father ever reading them… but they had been his nonetheless, so…

He traced his fingers along the cover of one, suddenly wishing that it wasn't so damned quiet.

With a sigh, he walked over to the bed. He smoothed a corner of the quilt gently, paused, and then sat down. The room felt achingly, hauntingly empty, and Sasuke wondered what he was even doing here. His parents were dead—they'd been for years. They weren't ever coming back. And he wasn't going to bring them back by sitting in their room. Not even killing Itachi could do that, though at least it would be _something_, and maybe afterward he could finally… Maybe then, at least, he could finally start to let it go. But until that happened…

He reached over to touch his mother's pillow, brushing it almost reverently with his bandaged hand, and drew a shaky breath.

…Then suddenly, it all just caught up to him, everything that had happened in the past few days and weeks. His fight with Itachi, his departure from Konoha, and finally the fight with Naruto that had ultimately resulted in his coming back, physically and mentally exhausted in a way he hadn't been since he was a child fresh from the loss of his clan. Guilt and turmoil and a deep, painful longing overwhelmed him suddenly, and before he knew what he was doing, he had bowed his head, breathing in desperately, trying to catch any still-lingering trace of his mother's scent.

And as he curled up on the bed, still cradling the pillow, his breath started to come in hitches as he cried without even realizing it, because he _was_ still a child, and he couldn't bring them back, and he didn't ever want to let go.

* * *

Kakashi was not too surprised to learn that Sasuke had left the hospital, since he hadn't explicitly ordered him to stay, and he knew from long experience that if you gave the boy an inch, he was capable of taking several miles. He had even anticipated as much, and had ordered the Anbu to give Sasuke free rein unless he strayed too close to the village borders once again. It seemed, though, that he hadn't… which didn't much surprise Kakashi either.

When he arrived at the Uchiha complex, the Anbu informed him that Sasuke had moved from his room a little before midnight, but that he'd been relatively quiet otherwise. Again, Kakashi did not find the news unexpected; if Sasuke _had _been planning something, he would have waited until he was no longer under guard. He nodded once to the Anbu, and stepped quietly inside.

He found Sasuke asleep in his parents' bedroom, his legs drawn up and his arms clutching a pillow as fiercely as if his life depended on it. His cheeks still bore the telltale faded marks of tears.

Kakashi found he had to stand there for a very long moment before he finally trusted himself to move without going against the twenty-fifth shinobi saying.

He reached down, took hold of the blanket lying folded at the foot of the bed, and drew it up to Sasuke's shoulders. Then he silently left the room, and told the Anbu he'd be back in the morning.

* * *

When Sasuke awoke the next day, the choked feeling in his chest was gone, as were the rest of the tumultuous emotions he had battled earlier that night. Once again he felt drained; only this time it was a blank, hollow feeling that pervaded.

He'd dreamed again… only this time he hadn't seen Itachi murder the clan. This time he'd dreamed that none of it had happened; that no one had died, no one had been killed, and Itachi hadn't left. They'd all kept living, peacefully, the way it would have—_should _have been. Like a normal family.

He looked dispassionately at the pillow still lying beside him, and for a fleeting instant, contemplated suffocating himself with it. A moment later he stood without even registering the blanket Kakashi had left there, and walked away, dully shutting the door behind him.

When Kakashi informed him later that day that he was to move out, he didn't utter a single word of protest.

* * *

_-to be continued-_

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

…This was a really hard chapter to write. Particularly the last few scenes, even though that was one of the first ideas that came together when I was planning this fic. Can't put the pieces back together until they've truly broken to begin with… still, though, it was hard.

Incidentally, as far as I can tell, Sasuke does still live in his family's old house (don't ask me _why_, but…). This time the evidence comes straight from the anime and manga—if you look closely, you can see that Sasuke's bedroom in the Uchiha flashbacks is identical to Sasuke's current room (seen when he leaves Konoha), from the shape of the ceiling to the position of the furniture to the ugly light fixture in the ceiling. Home sweet home… As for Naruto's apartment, I was actually lucky enough to find a couple of actual floor plans (for lack of a better term) a while back at a forum that's since died, so that's where the description of his place comes from. I'll post both those images, as well as the pics of Sasuke's room, up in my profile if anyone else wants to take a look.

As always, thanks for the reviews. And next chapter we'll finally leave Sasuke's angsty POV for a bit and go back to Naruto's, so yeah. XD


	6. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: **If I owned Naruto then I would be writing stuff like this for profit, not slaving through the weekend and putting off finishing my research paper. Stupid college. _(makes rude gesture)_

* * *

_Well, it's too late tonight  
To drag the past out into the light  
We're one, but we're not the same  
We get to carry each other_

_--U2, "One"_

* * *

**Path of No Regrets: Renewal  
**

_**-Chapter 5-**_

It wasn't _what _Jiraiya said so much as the look in his eyes when he said it, Naruto had thought later. Sad, reminiscent, pitying… like he'd already had this exact same discussion with someone else, a hundred times, and Naruto was no different—just another innocent fool too naïve in the ways of the world to see the truth that was right in front of him.

It had pissed Naruto off, that look.

He'd finally managed to get to sleep—it had been back when he was still in the hospital, during that first night after they'd retrieved Sasuke—when he'd been suddenly jolted awake by a loud _thud_. His first thought, only half-awake, had been that he must have accidentally dropped his bowl of ramen, and wasn't that odd, because ramen didn't usually make such a loud thud, that must have been some freaking heavy ramen. Then he'd woken up a little more and realized that of course ramen didn't make such a loud noise; he must have been dreaming. Having solved this peculiarity, he very nearly went right back to sleep, until it suddenly occurred to him that if not a bowl of ramen, _something _must have made that sound.

Muttering a bewildered curse, he sat up and crawled over to peer out his window. And there Jiraiya had been, perched casually atop the head of an enormous frog, waving a nonchalant hello as if people appeared out of nowhere atop enormous frogs in the middle of the night all the time. The old pervert had bid him a jaunty, "Yo," before seating himself comfortably on the windowsill.

He'd then told Naruto three things. The first two Naruto had no issue with—if anything, they were good news. One, Jiraiya was going to train him from this point on, and make Naruto his official apprentice. And two, according to his information network, the Akatsuki weren't going to come after Naruto again for three years. Not only that, but Orochimaru wouldn't be able to take Sasuke's body as a vessel for his soul for three years either. This had elated Naruto, because it was at least one thing that he wouldn't have to worry about for the time being. He'd made a note to cross out the image of Orochimaru with Sasuke's face—or the other way around—from his list of bad dream images. One down, just a few dozen to go… but at least it was a start.

But then he'd noticed Jiraiya looking at him oddly, and he'd frowned. "What?"

And Jiraiya, with that look in his eyes, had said simply, "You probably don't want to hear this, but you should reconsider what you think about Sasuke."

Naruto had stared, blinking in shock at first, and right before he could stammer out a response, Jiraiya had cut him off. "That kid… I know his type. He'll never stop seeking out power, no matter what the cost. You may have brought him back, but that doesn't mean anything will have changed."

"You don't even know him!" Naruto had retaliated angrily.

"I've known enough shinobi like him to know what kind of person he is. Sasuke is the same type as Orochimaru."

Naruto's eyes had narrowed. "_You _may not give a crap about him, but to me he's a friend!"

"Do friends injure their companions?" Jiraiya had turned on him suddenly, taking Naruto aback. "Do friends betray their comrades and then attack them?"

Naruto had looked away, hurt by the sudden reminder and angry that he couldn't think of a decent response to that.

"…Just think about it," Jiraiya had said finally. "I know you think of him as a friend, but you wouldn't be the first to believe that about someone and be mistaken."

And he'd met Naruto's eyes pointedly, and there had been the look. And Naruto wasn't an idiot; he'd known exactly who Jiraiya had really been referring to and exactly why Jiraiya was really having this talk with him.

And it pissed him off.

Because Sasuke wasn't _Orochimaru_, and Naruto wasn't Jiraiya, either, and just because all of that crap had happened with Jiraiya's old team didn't mean it was going to happen again. And Naruto didn't care whether Jiraiya believed that or not, because he did.

He _did_.

So that was why Jiraiya had made him angry, Naruto thought determinedly. It had been the way he'd said it, the look in his eyes. Not because everything he had said was what Naruto secretly feared most.

So he'd pushed it back in his mind after Jiraiya left, and had refused to think about it again. Because damn it, he'd only just gotten _rid _of the Sasuke-Orochimaru face in his dreams.

And damned if he was going to welcome it right back.

* * *

He'd kept right on refusing to think about it through the next day, when he was discharged from the hospital, and when they hadn't allowed him or Sakura to visit Sasuke. It was because Sasuke was still asleep, Naruto thought firmly. Not because they were keeping him a prisoner or anything. All he'd done was leave—that was it. Well that and fight Naruto, but he'd keep that part secret to his grave if he had to. It wasn't anyone else's business. So they had no reason to lock Sasuke up—he was worrying for nothing.

The following day, after being turned down once again, he'd gone to do a little halfhearted training. Eventually he'd wound up at Ichiraku. He had just been assuring the concerned owners that no, he wasn't going to try and drown himself in his bowl of miso ramen—apparently he hadn't been hiding his emotional distress as well as he'd hoped—when Sakura had suddenly come running up, out of breath, and told him that Sasuke was no longer in the hospital.

Naruto's mind, which had become increasingly mutinous over the past few days, had immediately responded by playing every one of his banned dream images on repeat, and he'd cursed vehemently as panic rose up inside him. He'd been telling himself repeatedly that Sasuke wouldn't try to leave the village again, and even if he _did_, someone would definitely stop him. But try as he might, the fear refused to abate. So he and Sakura had split up to search for him, with Naruto all the while telling his paranoia to shut it, which of course did nothing to help.

He'd found Sasuke sitting on an old dock, having decided to check there based on a flash of childhood memory and a feeling he didn't ignore. The sight of Sasuke sitting there had brought on a host of accompanying memories, some that he liked and some that he would be happy to never think about again, and before he knew it, he'd found himself walking over. It was only after doing so that he'd realized he had no idea at all of what to say.

Which Sasuke was it that he would be speaking to, he'd wondered with sudden apprehension: the old one, his rival and friend, or that one from the valley who had laughed coldly and tried to kill him? Was this the Sasuke he had tried to save, the one who was still in the darkness… or was this the one who had embraced the darkness and didn't even care?

_What if we fight again, right here? _he'd thought suddenly, and for a moment he almost wanted to turn and walk away again. In the end, it was Sakura's face that stopped him, accompanied by a flash of reminder about a promise he'd made, to both her and to himself.

_We'll be a team again._

No, he'd realized, he couldn't leave. He still had that promise to keep, and if he ever wanted his best friend back, he couldn't run away from this, ever.

So he'd stayed, and at that exact moment his stomach had growled, reminding him of the ramen bowl he'd abandoned no more than half an hour ago. And so the first words that came out of his mouth had not been words of anger or concern or anything that had to do with what he felt about Sasuke at all, but were instead a simple bemoaning of his stomach's current state.

"…Dammit, I'm hungry."

And just like that, they had talked. It had been awkward, but he guessed that was the best he could hope for right now, and at least Sasuke hadn't been like he was at the Valley of the End. He hadn't been cold or cruel; instead he'd just been quiet—really quiet, even for Sasuke—and… preoccupied, maybe. With something, or a lot of things… but Naruto supposed that Sasuke did have a lot to be preoccupied with now.

The important thing, though, was that Naruto had managed to get one thing out of him: a promise. That he wouldn't leave again. And even if he'd gotten nothing else, even if the air between them had been all wrong and heavy and uncomfortable in a way that somehow made it feel like nothing would ever be the same between them again… at least he'd gotten that promise. And as long as he had that, then at least he still had _time_.

Because in all honesty… he had no idea what to do now. He wasn't any good at this sort of thing, solving a problem that wasn't out in the open, that he couldn't deal with directly. He'd tried beating the shit out of Sasuke already, and that hadn't worked. Slowed things down, maybe, but that wasn't enough. He hadn't _fixed _anything, Sasuke was still… well, he wasn't trying to go to Orochimaru any longer, but he was still different. It was like a shadow was hanging over him that Naruto couldn't peel away no matter how he tried.

He could figure this out—he had to. But he needed the time. So for now, he would just have to trust Sasuke, and hope that he was better at keeping his promises than, it seemed, Naruto was.

* * *

It was Kakashi, of all people, who woke him up on the following day by knocking on his apartment door. Blinking in sleepy surprise, Naruto stumbled out of bed and opened the door to find his sensei standing there patiently, holding an old Icha Icha volume that looked as though it had seen better days.

"Good morning," said Kakashi politely.

Naruto stared at him for a moment, vaguely wondering what time it was, and then whether he had ever seen Kakashi at this hour of the morning before. "…It's not even eight o'clock yet," he said finally in a rather dumbfounded voice.

"I thought I'd seize the day today," Kakashi answered with a shrug. "Get dressed."

"Why?" Naruto asked, momentarily confused. They couldn't be doing a mission today, not so soon after… _were_ they…?

"I have a mission for you," Kakashi said.

"What?" Naruto exclaimed, wondering if Kakashi was insane.

"I want you to help Sasuke move his things."

"…What?" Naruto repeated. "Move? He's moving?"

"Yep. So are you, as a matter of fact," Kakashi added as if this wasn't completely out of the blue. "But not just yet. In the meantime, though, Sasuke's going to be staying with you."

Naruto gaped at him.

"…_What?_"

"So get dressed," Kakashi continued. He paused. "You know where Sasuke lives, right?"

"Yeah, but—"

"Ah, good. I'll be along in a little while; I have to go and pick up something first. You two will be able to handle things until then, yes?"

"We… well, yeah, but—"

"Great." Kakashi patted him on the head cheerfully. "Well then, I'll see you in a little bit. Nice hat, by the way."

Naruto reached up to adjust the sleeping cap which Kakashi had tilted askew, and stared voicelessly as the jounin poofed away.

…Help Sasuke move. In. With _him_.

No, Kakashi wasn't insane… he was completely out of his mind.

The most you could say about him, Naruto thought in exasperation as he turned back inside, was that at least _he _used the door.

* * *

As Naruto stared at the entrance to the Uchiha mansion, however, he wondered if maybe Jiraiya didn't have a point. Maybe windows were the way to go after all. He could steal in and maybe sneak up and surprise Sasuke or something, and even if it pissed the other boy off (as it no doubt would), at least it would still be better than standing here awkwardly knocking on the door. He liked being in control of what happened better than he liked standing back. And for some reason, it was just really hard to muster up the will to knock and wait for Sasuke to let him in.

Then again, Sasuke was the type of person who probably set up traps on all of his windows, just because. And on the off chance that he did, and Naruto ended up stuck in—or skewered by—one of _those_ and waiting for Sasuke to come… no. All things considered, the door was probably the lesser of two evils.

So…

_Come on, damn it, **knock**!_

He knocked. And waited. And hated it, but oh well.

Sasuke took his sweet time responding, and Naruto was just getting half a mind to go and climb in through a window anyway when the other boy finally slid the door open and stared at him. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he didn't look pleased to see Naruto. Naruto, who didn't much care since he wasn't too thrilled to see Sasuke right now either, ignored this. "Hi."

"…Hi," Sasuke replied, looking at him as if waiting for an explanation. Kakashi probably hadn't told him, Naruto thought suddenly. Probably he'd left it for Naruto to explain instead; that would explain why he'd disappeared afterward. Shit.

"I'm here to help you move, I guess," he said finally, hoping Sasuke at least knew about the moving part. "Kakashi-sensei made me," he added as a quick afterthought, not wanting to take the blame for any of this.

Sasuke said something vulgar-sounding under his breath that Naruto couldn't quite hear. "Great."

At least he didn't sound too surprised, so Kakashi must have at least mentioned it in passing. Better than nothing. "…So can I come in?" Naruto said at last, shifting awkwardly on his feet.

Sasuke sighed, but reluctantly moved to allow Naruto to enter. "Take your shoes off," he said after a moment.

"I know!" said Naruto, shooting him an indignant glare.

"Whatever." Sasuke turned. "Come on, then; let's get this over with."

Annoyed, Naruto followed him in to what he assumed was the living area. There was a low table in the middle of the room surrounded by seating cushions, and a TV sitting against one wall. Several other chairs and cabinets dotted the rest of the floor, and the walls were decorated with an assortment of scrolls and an inordinate number of red and white fans. Naruto was just wondering if the Uchihas had suffered from some obsessive-compulsive need to put their clan emblem on _everything_, when he realized Sasuke was pointing him toward a closet in the far corner of the room.

"There should be a few boxes in there. Just dump whatever's in them out on the floor there and bring the boxes over." He gestured to a nearby chiffonier. "There're a few scrolls in here that I want to hang onto. You can start taking them out; I'll be back to sort through them in a few minutes."

"Where are you going?" Naruto muttered as he headed toward the closet.

"Attic. See if I can't find a few more boxes there."

"How much stuff are you _bringing_?" Naruto wondered aloud, glancing again at all of the furniture.

"Whatever I need. I _am_ moving, Naruto," Sasuke said with a frown.

"Yeah, but how much of this are you actually going to be able to _fit_?" said Naruto, thinking about what little space he had to begin with. "I mean, I wanna be able to still move _around_."

"What do you mean?" Sasuke asked, pausing suddenly.

Naruto froze. Surely Kakashi _had _told him about that part… right…?

"You know… in my apartment."

Sasuke stared at him, and Naruto fought the sudden urge to run, or possibly find Kakashi-sensei, wherever the hell he was, and drag him back over all the while pointing and shouting, 'He did it! He did it!'

"…_Your _apartment!"

"It wasn't _my _idea!" said Naruto immediately. "Kakashi-sensei just came and _told_ me—he only did it just this morning!"

"He never said I was moving with _you_!" Sasuke said, sounding outraged.

"Well, it's not _my _fault!" Naruto replied in indignation. "Look, he just said it and disappeared, okay? I can't do anything about it so stop barking at me!"

"Well, what else am—!" Sasuke started before breaking off furiously and turning away. There was a long pause. Finally, Sasuke exhaled very slowly before speaking again. "I can't believe he's… of _all _the things…"

"Yeah, well…" Naruto shrugged uncomfortably, thinking that Sasuke wasn't the only one unhappy with this turn of events. "It's not like I asked for this to happen either, so take it up with him."

Sasuke glanced back at him for a moment, then looked away uneasily. "It wouldn't have been my choice… you don't have anything to do with this."

"Well, I guess they just decided that since I'm your fucking _teammate_, maybe I do," Naruto retorted, feeling a rush of anger and not quite certain why.

Guilt struck him almost as soon as he'd said it, and he winced as Sasuke grit his teeth but didn't reply. "…Look, I don't mind," Naruto amended finally. "Not really. It's… it'll take some getting used to, I guess, but… it's all right."

There was a long silence. Finally Sasuke shrugged and offered a reluctant nod. "All right. I guess there's no choice, so…"

He looked around the room for a moment, then finally sighed and nodded toward the chiffonier. "Just get the scrolls out, then. I'll get a few bags and take what I can fit with my clothes and everything else."

With that, he disappeared down the hall, leaving Naruto alone in the room. He stood there for a moment, then finally moved to open the doors of the cabinet. Inside were a number of old scrolls, piled up in some disarray. He started taking them out and lining them up on the nearby table. When he was through, he hesitated for a moment, then picked one up and opened it. It was too dark in the room, however, for him to make much out; the curtains had been drawn, blocking out most of the natural light. He glanced around for a light switch, and finally spotted it near the door. As he moved to turn it on, however, he paused as an odd marking on the opposite wall caught his eye.

He looked at it a moment, then flipped on the light for a better look. A number of short, straight lines had been etched along the wall at varying heights, coming up to about his shoulder at their highest point. Beside each line were a few scrawled-out numbers—dates. A smile curved up one end of Naruto's mouth before he could stop himself—he knew what this was.

"What are you looking at, usuratonkachi?"

Doing his best to hide his sudden grin, Naruto shrugged. "Nothing."

Sasuke glared at him, then dumped an empty duffel bag on the floor. "Fine. Help me pack some of these up."

* * *

It took them the better part of an hour to sort through everything Sasuke wanted to consider bringing, and by the time they were finally through, it was almost mid-day. Naruto managed to spot three Anbu during the walk to his apartment laden with Sasuke's bags, and wondered if his teammate's new living arrangements meant that he would be seeing a lot more of the elite shinobi from now on. He suppressed a sigh; odds were he'd better get used to it.

Kakashi was waiting for them outside Naruto's door, and both Naruto and Sasuke met him with glares that he cheerfully ignored. "Ah, there you two are. I was beginning to think you'd somehow gotten lost."

"When the hell were you going to tell me you were moving me in with him?" Sasuke demanded before Naruto could even start his own angry tirade.

"Hmm?" said Kakashi thoughtfully, feigning confusion. "…Oh, that? Sorry, guess it slipped my mind." He waved a pacifying hand.

"Tell me _straight_, right now, what exactly are we doing here?" Sasuke continued angrily. "Am I staying with him, or am I moving out again to someplace else?"

"You're both moving out," said Kakashi calmly. "Naruto's apartment is too small for both of you, and no offense, but the higher-ups don't trust you to stay on your own, so you're moving with Naruto as soon as we can find an adequate place. This is just a temporary arrangement."

"Wait a minute!" Naruto cut in suddenly as that hit home. "What do you mean, we're moving out? You didn't say we had to leave here!"

"I told you this morning that you were moving as well," Kakashi reminded him.

"But—I thought that you meant—you were talking about _him_!" Naruto exclaimed, upset. "You didn't say that I had to move!"

"Naruto, I'm not going to say it again," said Kakashi, looking more serious now. "Your apartment is too small for two people."

"But this is…!" Naruto swallowed, feeling as if someone had suddenly tried to cut out a vital part of his insides without warning. "This is _my _place!" he said urgently. "I don't _want _to… I've lived here since… I don't want to just _leave_!"

Kakashi was quiet for a bit. When he replied at last it was not without sympathy, but his tone was firm. "I'm sorry, Naruto, but as much as this is asking, it would be even more unfair to force you and Sasuke to crowd in together after everything that's happened."

Naruto bit his lip, but before he could respond, Sasuke spoke up quietly.

"It's all right."

Naruto and Kakashi both looked at him questioningly. "Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

Sasuke didn't meet either of their eyes, but he continued. "If he doesn't want to move, then whatever. It's all right. I… there's no point in forcing him just because of me."

He shifted awkwardly, determinedly eyeing the wall, but concluded, "If he's okay with that, I don't mind."

Naruto stared at him for a second, then turned a hopeful glance to Kakashi. For a moment their sensei looked as if he was going to protest, but then he finally relented with a sigh.

"Well, all right. If you're both satisfied with that, there's no harm in trying it out for now."

Naruto grinned in relief and bounded over to unlock the door. Sasuke moved to follow him in, but Kakashi held him back for a second. "Hold on."

Naruto slowed as Sasuke raised an eyebrow at Kakashi. "I've got something for you," the jounin said as he reached into his pocket. He pulled out something that Naruto from his position couldn't see, and offered it out to Sasuke.

Sasuke hesitated before finally reaching to take it. Then Kakashi stepped back, and Naruto finally saw what it was that Sasuke was now holding in his hands: a hitai-ate. His hitai-ate, the one that Naruto had scratched during their last battle. The mark had been freshly buffed out and repaired, but it was still slightly visible, enough so that anyone who was looking for it or saw it in the right light could see.

It was quiet for a moment. Finally Sasuke said, so faintly that Naruto only just heard it, "You could have just gotten a new one."

"I could have," Kakashi replied. "…But there's nothing wrong with this. It's flawed, but it's still good."

Sasuke looked downward for a very long moment, then finally nodded. Kakashi stepped forward, putting a hand on his shoulder.

"…I'll be coming by to start training tomorrow morning, so be ready." He turned back to Naruto, adding, "And Jiraiya plans to start training you shortly if I'm not mistaken, so you should be ready too."

When Naruto nodded, Kakashi smiled under his mask, patted Sasuke's shoulder once, and then disappeared.

Sasuke remained just standing and looking at his forehead protector for so long that finally Naruto said, "Oi, coming in anytime soon, or what?"

Sasuke started, then picked up the remaining two bags and hoisted them in. Naruto shut the door behind them, then gestured shortly to his right and left. "This is the kitchen; that way's the bedroom. And bathroom's down this way too. Uh… that's pretty much the grand tour." He picked up a bag and started to carry it toward his room, then paused as he realized Sasuke was looking at the wall by the refrigerator. He grinned.

"That one's mine," he said by way of explanation. Sasuke blinked and looked at him, then back at the height chart scrawled in pencil on the cheap wallpaper. He shrugged, then finally picked up his bags again and brushed past Naruto into the bedroom.

As Naruto stared at Sasuke's back, he wondered for a moment what he would do if he kept on dreaming about the Valley of the End now that Sasuke was sharing a room with him.

Pushing the thought out of his mind, he followed him in.

* * *

_-to be continued-_

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

First of all, holdover note from the last chapter—the 25th shinobi saying is the one about not showing emotion (quoted somewhat more eloquently by Sakura in episode 18). Sorry, forgot to mention that for those who didn't know. _(sweatdrop)_

Also, to clarify about the living arrangements now that they're finally sorted out—Naruto and Sasuke will be sharing Naruto's apartment (yes, despite all of my nitpicking about its size, I intended this all along XD), and Jiraiya and Kakashi will be staying wherever they normally stay (i.e. not going anywhere), but will be training the boys on a daily basis. As for the Anbu, they'll be guarding them as well for the time being, but once Sasuke proves himself a little more trustworthy, they'll be called off too. (So Sasuke really got off easy, all things considered. XD)

Thanks as always for the reviews; they make me happy. And I'll try to update sooner this time, too… heh.


	7. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: **I'm seriously starting to regret this idea to come up with a new disclaimer every damn week. There are only so many creative ways to say, 'I don't own Naruto,' and if I'm already starting to reach, I can only imagine how bad it's gonna get later on. Forget just reaching, I'll be standing on my tiptoes and jumping up and down here. XD

By the way, I don't own Naruto.

* * *

_Everything falls apart  
Even the people who never frown  
Eventually break down_

_--Linkin Park, "Pushing Me Away"_

* * *

**Path of No Regrets: Renewal  
**

_**-Chapter 6-**_

Of all things, it was the fact that Kakashi said _morning _and then actually showed up in the AM hours that first convinced Sasuke that the jounin was as serious as he was. And that was good, because with the exception of a select few things, one of them being the fact that he was going to kill his brother, Sasuke had never been so serious about anything in his entire life.

He needed to be, because this was it—this was all he had left. If he failed at this, there was nothing to fall back on. No plan B, no escape route, nothing… unless he decided to go to Orochimaru after all. And with every day that passed, that seemed like less and less of a real option. He'd burned that bridge, whether he liked it or not.

So that left only this, this route that depended so much on luck. _Trust_. Something he had long since lost his taste for.

He just hoped Kakashi was right.

* * *

The first day of their new training regimen, Kakashi took him to one of the forest training zones, told him they were going to fight, and ordered him to give it all he had.

"_Everything?_" Sasuke asked pointedly, and Kakashi looked at him in a way that made it clear he knew perfectly well that Sasuke was trying to irritate him.

"Everything _except _the curse seal."

"Right," said Sasuke dully, but Kakashi didn't let the subject drop this time.

"The curse seal _won't_ make you stronger, Sasuke. Relying on it will only make it a crutch, a handicap. You don't need it."

"Because I've done just _great_ without it so far," Sasuke muttered in spite of himself.

Kakashi paused, eyed Sasuke critically, and sighed with what sounded like disappointment. Sasuke glared at him, not liking the feeling of being dismissed. At last, Kakashi asked, "Why do you think Orochimaru gave you that seal in the first place?"

A half dozen answers floated through Sasuke's mind, none of which he particularly liked. So finally he just mumbled, "I never asked."

"I know you didn't," Kakashi said almost chidingly.

Again, Sasuke felt a flash of anger. "I didn't _need _to know his motives to be able to see the results."

"A shinobi must _always _understand his enemy's motives, Sasuke," Kakashi said, his tone suddenly sharp. "To ignore them is just asking to walk into a trap, or worse. You accepted the curse seal without ever even questioning Orochimaru's reasons for choosing you, even knowing what the seal did and how dangerous it could be." He looked Sasuke in the eye. "You've been taught better than that."

Sasuke looked right back at him for a long moment, then sighed and broke his gaze away toward a nearby tree instead.

"…He wanted to control me."

Kakashi nodded. "Yes."

"…Was that the only reason?" Sasuke asked finally, not sure if he would like the answer, but all the same needing to hear it once and for all.

"No," said Kakashi, and Sasuke looked back uncertainly.

"Orochimaru wanted you because of your talent, and your bloodline. He wanted _you_, specifically. He's invented a jutsu that allows him to transfer his soul into another person's body, and take it over." Kakashi tapped his hitai-ate thoughtfully, indicating the eye hidden beneath it. "…I suppose the last survivor of the Uchiha clan, along with the Sharingan, was just too tempting an offer to pass up."

Sasuke slowly let out a very long breath.

_(He just wants your body to use as a container!)_

…Literally. He'd meant it literally. …Of _course _he'd meant it literally—it was Naruto; Naruto had probably never uttered a riddle or metaphor in his life—but still. Sasuke hadn't… he'd never…

He'd just dismissed it. If Naruto hadn't stopped him…

"Well, fortunately, we don't have to worry about that anymore," Kakashi said, breaking into Sasuke's thoughts. "But enough. Let's get started." The jounin straightened, moving his neck to the side as if working out the kinks. "…Ready?"

Sasuke blinked once, then forced himself to snap out of it. Kakashi was right; there was no point in thinking about that now. He activated the Sharingan, and the world suddenly sprang into deep, vivid clarity.

Kakashi smiled.

"All right… begin."

And before Sasuke could even move, before he could even think about moving, Kakashi was on him and Sasuke found himself struggling furiously just to keep up with the attacks. Even with his Sharingan, it was all he could do just to block and dodge in time. This was a Kakashi he had never seen before; he was far more aggressive than he'd ever been in previous training exercises. He was pushing him, Sasuke quickly realized; trying to gauge his limits.

_Give it your all_, Kakashi had said. He hadn't been kidding.

He picked up his pace, trying to find an opening to attack, and when none presented itself, he looked instead for a way to back off and get his bearings. But Kakashi didn't give him the chance. He kept attacking, pressing harder, almost like he was casually turning up the notch bit by bit, waiting until he reached a level Sasuke couldn't match. And Sasuke was already straining. His arm was starting to hurt again now—he'd only just healed enough to start training once more—this was ridiculous—

Kakashi landed a hit at last; Sasuke saw it coming but his body wasn't fast enough to prevent it. It struck him hard in the jaw, and he went flying back, only just managing to land the fall. He wiped away the blood on his chin angrily as Kakashi landed in front of him, again looking displeased.

"You're not trying."

"The hell I'm not!" Sasuke spat back.

"I've seen you do much better than this," Kakashi said, dismissive. "Anything I can teach you will be a waste if you don't even use the training you've already got."

"I _am _using it," Sasuke said, fighting the urge to rush at Kakashi head on. This was deliberate; Kakashi was baiting him. "But I only just got out of the _hospital_."

"That's an excuse," Kakashi replied. "Not a reason. You wouldn't let that stop you if you were fighting someone else." He looked at Sasuke pointedly, and Sasuke narrowed his eyes.

Then Kakashi was attacking again, and once more Sasuke was only barely blocking or sidestepping the assaults. His sensei wasn't letting up at all; if anything, he was going harder. Sasuke gritted his teeth.

Wouldn't let it stop him if it was someone else, huh? Like Naruto, in other words… as if Sasuke needed any reminder of that.

Fine, then. If Kakashi wanted him to give it his all, then he sure as hell wasn't going to disappoint.

He risked a split-second glance at their surroundings; he couldn't risk taking his eyes off Kakashi any longer than that, but that second was all he needed. He drew two shuriken and launched them at Kakashi's head, then followed with two more as Kakashi easily dodged. Sasuke let Kakashi continue to attack this time, drawing further back. He sidestepped another blow and threw one last pair of weapons, then pulled his hand to the side.

And all six shuriken came arcing around, as the invisible wire attached to each one boomeranged them back toward him, right in Kakashi's blind spot. For an instant he wondered if the jounin would actually fall for it, but they flew right on by, Kakashi dodging them as effortlessly as he'd avoided them the first time. "You'll have to be more creative than that," he commented, unperturbed.

Sasuke just smirked. He ducked Kakashi's next blow, coming under as he would if he were heading into Shishi Rendan, and then tugged at the shuriken wire one last time.

And an instant later, he was flying through the air in the exact opposite direction that his motion would have carried him, as the wire that he'd secretly looped around himself pulled him up and away toward the trees that the shuriken had wrapped around, just like he'd intended from the start. And just like he'd hoped, the movement was sudden and unexpected enough that for just a second, it caught Kakashi off guard, giving Sasuke the chance to land and immediately go for cover before the jounin could spot him once again.

Having done so, he started thinking quickly. The only way he could possibly hope to beat Kakashi was to take him by surprise; that much was clear. The problem was that none of the jutsu he knew fit the task. Kakashi was his instructor, he knew everything in Sasuke's arsenal by heart… hell, he'd even _taught _Sasuke most of it. Chidori was out, Katon jutsu were out, his taijutsu combos wouldn't even stand a chance, and he'd just proven that a wire combo like the Sharingan windmill wouldn't do the trick either. He was running out of options.

His only shot was to try something Kakashi wouldn't expect, something he'd only recently picked up that the jounin wouldn't know about. …Kage Bunshin…? No, forget it; it took up too much chakra, and that was Naruto's specialty anyway—Kakashi would be used to countering it, even if he might not expect it coming from another one of his students. Besides, Sasuke wasn't exactly keen on using a technique that Naruto was known for; he wanted to do this on his own terms.

A better trick would be to try something from Kakashi's own arsenal—copy something right from the Copy Ninja himself. The only problem was that Sasuke hadn't gotten the chance to copy any of Kakashi's techniques with his Sharingan. …Still, he'd seen a few of them up close, and his memory was pretty good. Too good, at times; that was both a big advantage and drawback of his genetic inheritance.

He replayed what he recalled of the jutsu in his head, analyzing it now that he did have the Sharingan to aid him. He had no idea if this would work—he hadn't even seen the seals when Kakashi had originally done this technique, which couldn't help matters any—but he thought he could make some sense of what he did remember. He'd experienced the technique firsthand, so he had an idea of how it worked as well as the chakra use involved, and he thought he might be able to manage. It wouldn't be perfect, but it didn't need to be perfect… it just needed to be enough.

Kakashi would find him again before long… it was now or never. Taking a deep breath, he jumped down from the tree, landed lightly, and formed a makeshift seal pattern, mentally crossing his fingers that it would be good enough. He focused his chakra as he finished the seals… and slid underground.

Fighting back his sudden elation—he'd done it, but he needed to keep his focus or he'd drop the shaky hold he had on the jutsu—he looked up and waited. Sure enough, Kakashi landed a moment later, having likely been attracted by the noise Sasuke had made. Sasuke waited… more… just a little bit more…

Kakashi stepped into range, and Sasuke sprang, grabbing his ankle.

"_Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu!_"

And Kakashi plunged down, driven into the earth as Sasuke emerged from the ground victorious, just like Kakashi had done during the bell test all those months ago. The jutsu faltered partway through, but Sasuke locked Kakashi from the waist up with his legs and pushed him back into a headlock, pressing a kunai to his neck. He smirked.

"Is that creative enough?"

"Very good, Sasuke," said Kakashi calmly.

Then, without any warning at all, he vanished… just as Sasuke felt the tip of a kunai brush his own neck. "Very good," Kakashi echoed from behind him, and Sasuke bit back a curse.

Apparently, Kakashi had no qualms at all about using Kage Bunshin himself.

A moment later, he released Sasuke, spinning the kunai around on his finger before replacing it back in its holster. Sasuke slowly climbed to his feet, feeling stung and trying to catch his breath, but Kakashi looked satisfied. "You made good use of the Sharingan, and you copied a technique you've only seen once, before you had those eyes. That's more than I even expected."

"You still beat me," Sasuke said bitterly, re-holstering his own kunai and trying to quell the frustration that was quickly rising inside him once again.

"Of course," said Kakashi matter-of-factly. "If I couldn't, there wouldn't be any point in us doing this at all. I've got years of experience you don't, and you can't make up for that in a single day. But you did well; just give it time"

Sasuke glared at a defenseless tree, still breathing hard, thinking of the gap that still existed between him and Itachi, and just how often he'd told himself the exact same thing in the past. _Give it time… _His glare darkened. "Just another five years or so, you mean?"

"You're too impatient, Sasuke," Kakashi chided, and Sasuke turned his glare on him, suddenly fed up with all of this.

"I don't have _time_ to be patient! _He_'s still out there, and every day that I waste running around sparring here, he's getting _stronger!_ I'm not even _close_ to the same level he is, and I'm not _getting_ any closer and this is all just a _waste of time_." In utter frustration, he aimed his fist at the nearest object—the tree—but Kakashi caught the punch in his own palm.

"Stop comparing yourself to Itachi."

Sasuke pulled his fist back angrily. "I need to _kill _him; I can't beat him if I'm not as strong as him!"

"Not being stronger now doesn't mean you'll never be," Kakashi said firmly. "You're thirteen, Sasuke—you have time to grow."

"I _don't_—"

"You _do _have time, whether you believe it or not," Kakashi cut him off, more forceful this time. "And whether you believe it or not, you have the potential. Stop comparing yourself to him, stop trying to get strong all at once, and accept that it won't happen overnight."

Sasuke stared at him, part of him wanting to hear him out, but the other part so jaded that he thought he never could. It was too good to be true; it was _naïve_; it went against everything he'd ever had proven to him time and time again. He closed his eyes. "…And what if it never happens at all?"

"It will," Kakashi replied simply. "From here on out, you'll only get stronger every day, Sasuke."

Sasuke took a deep breath as Kakashi continued. "From this point on, you're only going to grow. There'll be a day when you'll look back on this and you won't even recognize your old self. And it's going to be sooner than you think."

Sasuke opened his eyes again and met Kakashi's intently, searching for any trace of doubt or deceit. He found none.

"…You really believe that," he said finally.

"The question is whether or not you do," was all Kakashi replied.

Sasuke clenched his fist, then breathed out softly.

…The funny thing was, conviction had never been something he'd lacked. And the same went for confidence. It was, he thought, _hope _that he had the real problem with. Hope, like trust, was something he'd long since stopped believing in. Hope was something that could be stolen from you all too easily, and left a crushing emptiness in its wake. Hope was something you couldn't count on, that let you down all too often, and the more you allowed yourself to have, the more painful it was when it taken away.

And he'd had it taken away one too many times to be able to just pick it right back up again, even if he wanted to; even if he ached to. That was the trap; that was what fate wanted him to do. Step willingly right back in, so it could take it all yet again.

He couldn't. Hope was something he'd lost.

He clenched his fist tighter.

But determination… that, he had never let go of.

It was the last thing, perhaps, that he still truly held onto. Because _that_, that couldn't be driven down completely, no matter what. It couldn't be taken away.

So even if he still had doubts—even if those doubts turned out to be real—he could still see this through. Even if Kakashi was _wrong_, he could prove him right. Because he wanted this, more than anything, and even if he couldn't _hope_ for it, ever, he could still go after it and chase it down.

So finally, he nodded, and Kakashi resumed training as if the conversation had never happened. But from that point on, Sasuke went at it more seriously, and from then on he truly did give his all.

Because he was determined. And because this was it… this was all he had left.

* * *

Training took up most of Sasuke's time, and he made a point of filling up the remainder with either eating or sleeping, so all things considered, he didn't see much of Naruto over the next few days even though they were now sharing an apartment. And in what could only be described as a miraculous change of character, Naruto didn't talk out of hand even when they were together. Sasuke wasn't sure whether this was because Naruto was tired from his own training sessions, or because he still felt uncomfortable talking to Sasuke, though he suspected the latter. But either way, he found himself welcoming the quiet, since he still wasn't quite sure how to behave around Naruto these days.

The tension that had existed between them ever since the Valley of the End still hadn't abated, and Sasuke seemed to feel it more and more each day. It hung over them like a cloud, perpetually dark and heavy but refusing to rain, and even though a part of Sasuke knew that it couldn't hang forever, neither of them, it seemed, was willing to face it.

It was one week after Sasuke had moved in when the storm finally came.

Part of the reason was that for the first time all week, Kakashi had let Sasuke off early, claiming that he had business he needed to take care of, and leaving Sasuke very suddenly with half a day of space to fill. He ended up sitting in Naruto's kitchen, the only place in the apartment with actual chairs and a table, and poring over some of the scrolls he'd brought with him, looking for anything that he might be able to use against Kakashi in their next training bout. So far he hadn't been able to find much that could give him the upper hand, but some of the genjutsu scrolls looked somewhat promising. The problem was that he wasn't much of a genjutsu type, even with the Sharingan. It was something he'd need to work on…

He had just started to read through one particularly enticing scroll when Naruto walked in… or perhaps _bounded_ was the more appropriate word, since Naruto rarely actually _walked_ anywhere. He immediately bounded toward the kitchen—that was definitely a bound, no doubt about it—but came to an abrupt halt when he saw Sasuke sitting at the table. He was quiet, and for a moment Sasuke thought he might just grab a snack or something and then continue about his business without saying anything at all, but then Naruto did open his mouth.

"Hey."

"Hey," replied Sasuke in a monotone, not looking up from what he was reading.

"Listen…" Naruto began, edging over slowly, then pausing as he looked at all of the scrolls. "…What are you doing?"

"I'm _reading_, Naruto," Sasuke answered, trying to quell his annoyance. "It's a popular pastime; you might want to learn how one of these days."

"Ha ha," Naruto replied dryly, rolling his eyes. "Look, I was gonna ask if you wanted to go get some ramen with me." He paused with a sudden frown, then said rather sourly, "But I guess you probably think _that _pastime is nothing but a waste."

"And you'd be right," Sasuke said tersely, still not looking up from his scroll.

Naruto sighed. "…Look, Sakura-chan's gonna be there."

Sasuke furrowed his brow, suddenly feeling uncomfortable. "So?"

"_So_, she hasn't seen you since everything happened, bastard!" Naruto said loudly, looking as if he were starting to get fed up. "She _misses_ you—don't you even care a little bit?"

"I have more important things to worry about than whether or not Sakura's still in love with me," Sasuke replied curtly, now purposely trying to get Naruto to leave him alone.

He seemed to succeed in pissing him off, at least; Naruto's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, that's right… I forgot, you don't give a shit about your friends, do you? The only thing you care about is getting stronger."

"Congratulations, it only took you a _year _to figure that out," said Sasuke sarcastically.

He caught the sudden shift in Naruto's expression, but deliberately ignored it. Which was probably why a second later, he was caught completely off guard by the roundhouse punch that decked him right in the face.

Half thrown back and half stumbling back out of his chair, Sasuke wiped his bloody nose and glared murderously at the other boy in total shock and rage. "What the _hell_, Naruto!"

"I've owed you that ever since you got back, asshole," Naruto answered, looking furious but satisfied.

Feeling increasingly enraged himself, Sasuke shoved away the now-upturned chair that lay in front of him. "You want to fight, right now?"

"I _never _wanted to fight!" Naruto shouted back as something suddenly seemed to snap. "Not at the Valley of the End, not back at the hospital—that was _you!__ You're _the one who started this! You're the one who _keeps _starting this!"

"You seem to have started it this time," Sasuke replied scathingly.

"No, _you _started it," said Naruto, his voice darkening in a way Sasuke had rarely heard before. "You started this when you fucking _left_. When you just _walked off _to go join Orochimaru. When you tried—" He cut off abruptly, as if just barely curtailing himself, but Sasuke knew exactly what he had been going to say, and suddenly he just wanted it out in the open at long last.

"When I tried to kill you," he finished.

Naruto seethed at him, breathing heavily, his fists clenched. "…Yes. When you tried to kill _me_." His voice turned suddenly heavy with bitter irony. "Your fucking _best friend_."

Sasuke stared back at him, a leaden feeling suddenly weighing down his gut, but said nothing. …He couldn't. A part of him wanted to explain—badly, even—but another part of him couldn't stand the thought, because it would mean admitting just how wrong he'd really been, and that was something he just couldn't do. To admit it, that he was wrong and Naruto had been right after all, would be too much like admitting that _everything _he'd been trying to do for the past five years had been wrong and screwed-up, and that was just… he _couldn't_. So instead he just stood there, stony-faced, and didn't reply. After a minute, Naruto finally shook his head in disgust.

"…You don't even _care_, do you?"

"You wouldn't understand," was all Sasuke could quietly say.

Naruto snorted bitterly. "No… I think I do understand, now." He gave another short, ironic laugh. "You know… all week, everyone who asked… I _defended _you. Ero-sennin… he didn't trust you. I told him he didn't know you… but I'm the one who really doesn't know you, huh?" He smiled humorlessly, but even that faded a moment later. "Maybe he was right. Maybe you _are _the same type as Orochimaru." He shook his head again, then met Sasuke's eyes darkly. "Maybe I _should_ have just let you go."

"I never _asked _you to come chase me down, Naruto," said Sasuke icily, his guilt once more giving way to anger as Naruto's words hit home more than he would ever admit. "So just how does that work, huh? You follow me out of Konoha, get in my way and _force _me to fight you, and then have the gall to get mad when I'm not _happy _that you did it? How the hell does your mind _work_, usuratonkachi?" He glared. "If you're so sure you shouldn't have bothered, then why _did _you chase me down?"

"_Because I cared!_" said Naruto, slamming his fist down on the table so hard that the floor shook. His voice echoed around the room. "Because you were my teammate, because _I thought you were my friend!_" And now his voice was shaking, but no less furious. "I _cared _about what happened to you, you bastard! And even if you don't care jack shit about me, I _never _thought that you could ever…"

He trailed off, and Sasuke swallowed away the feeling in the pit of his stomach, hating it, and feeling all the angrier because it was there. "You—"

"_You tried to kill me! _You called me your _best friend _and then _you tried to kill me!_"

He squeezed his eyes shut then, breathing in deep as if trying to calm himself at last, and there was a unbearably long moment of silence during which Sasuke just stood there, hating everything in the room and wishing for all the life of him that he could go back and change something that could never be changed.

Finally, Naruto opened his eyes once more, and there was pain there that Sasuke had never seen before, but that he knew himself all too well.

"…And you really _don't _care, do you," Naruto said quietly.

He glanced down at the haphazard mess of scrolls, and then added suddenly, viciously: "I guess you're really no different from _him_, then, huh?"

Sasuke shot him a sharp look, and Naruto stared right back, cool and unapologetic. Very slowly, Sasuke clenched his fist and drew a heavy breath.

"Get out," he growled, his voice low.

"It's _my _apartment," Naruto shot back.

Sasuke took a step forward, using his slight advantage in height to its fullest, and fixed Naruto with the most dangerous gaze he could muster without actually losing control. He spoke each word slowly and clearly. "And I'm not allowed to leave it without an escort. So _get the hell out_."

Naruto stared him down right back. "…Fine. Sakura-chan's waiting, anyway."

He moved to the door, hesitated just the slightest as he opened it, and looked back, opening his mouth as if to say one last thing. Then he seemed to change his mind, narrowed his eyes, and turned away fiercely, slamming the door shut.

The sound echoed off the walls as if the room were hollow, and then Sasuke was alone in the kitchen. He stood there for a moment, then sagged back against the wall, suddenly feeling exhausted.

The storm had passed… but he wasn't sure if anything had survived in its wake.

* * *

_-to be continued-_

* * *

_Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu _- Earth Style: Inner Decapitation Technique

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

Eboni asked just how long Sasuke was going to remain all quiet and subdued… I guess this sorta answers that question. XD I figured Naruto and Sasuke really wouldn't last very long once they were put in the same tiny space together. It's like putting a kettle to boil; once it's hot enough and you've got all this water boiling in one tiny little space, eventually all that bubbling air has to go somewhere, and the thing starts to whistle. Only in this case, the kettle more kind of exploded. :P

Um… I guess not much else to say, really, except that the story is nearing the end of act one now (yes, act one… I did say this was a long fic, right? Well, this whole story so far is really just the set-up for the main plot, so, uh… yeah). I guess this would be a climax of sorts for this first part, then, with the next chapter being the resolution. I'm surprised I even made it _this _far. XD

As usual, many thanks for the reviews—they're probably _why _I've made it to this point—and till next week, then.


	8. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: **Facts:

1. Chuck Norris can win a game of Connect Four in only three moves.  
2. Jack Bauer has killed 185 people in six days' time.  
3. Masashi Kishimoto created Naruto.

Kishimoto FTW.

* * *

_There are things I'd like to say  
But pride has got my tongue  
So I'll take the easy way out  
And blame it on being young_

_--The Unseen, "Don't Look Back"_

* * *

**Path of No Regrets: Renewal  
**

_**-Chapter 7-**_

Naruto couldn't remember ever feeling more miserable and furious with both himself and the world at large.

_I blew it. I blew it, I blew it, I blew it._

And now things were never going to be the same again, no matter what he did. His promise, his _friendship_… the bond he'd once shared with Sasuke against all odds… the one that made no sense, that couldn't be explained or defined but was just _there _somehow, and for better or worse was one of the first and most important bonds Naruto had ever known…

…All of it meant shit now, thanks to him. Thanks to _Sasuke_ and his stupid revenge and inability to see _anything _beyond that—and thanks to Naruto, who'd _known_ Sasuke was hurting and that he needed time, and who had made a _promise _that he would fix this, and yet had just now screwed it all to hell anyway. All because he'd lost his temper.

**_Damn_** _it_, he mentally kicked himself again as he stalked on toward Ichiraku—and away from his apartment—as fast as he could. What the hell had he been thinking? Of _all _the things he could have done, of all the things he could have said… what the hell had he been _thinking? _He'd just gone and ripped open every single wound that had finally begun to scar over between them, and then rubbed _salt _into every freaking one just for good measure. He _knew _that they'd still needed time… he knew that Sasuke was still struggling beneath that Itachi-shaped shadow… so _why…?_

_Because it wasn't just Sasuke who was hurting!_

He grimaced and tried futilely to suppress that little part of him that had been screaming for more than a week now to be acknowledged, but it refused to quiet. It had sat there denied for too long, waiting and hoping and needing for Sasuke to show even just one small outward sign that he regretted what he'd done in any way at all.

_Because **I** was hurting too!_

Naruto didn't need much; he would have never asked for much. He didn't need an apology (he wanted one but he didn't _need_ one); he didn't need a promise (and at least Sasuke had given that much anyway); he didn't even need a _reason_, although it _hurt _not to have one. It hurt to not understand why Sasuke had done it, and it hurt that Sasuke had never even offered to explain. But even though he wanted those things, he didn't _need _them.

But just a sign—a look, a glance, a gesture—_anything_—that Sasuke regretted the fight even the tiniest bit… _anything _that showed that he hadn't meant it, hadn't been himself back there, hadn't really meant to hurt Naruto like that… would have been _sad_, at least, if he had killed him…

He needed that. He _needed _that.

…Any sign that Sasuke cared at _all_.

Because he couldn't keep _doing _this. He couldn't keep reaching out to someone who wasn't reaching back at all. He couldn't _keep _his promise if Sasuke truly didn't care, because the Sasuke he was trying to reach so badly would have never left him hanging there, no matter how much of a self-centered bastard he was. Only that was exactly what he'd done… he'd just left Naruto hanging.

And finally it had been too much, and Naruto had snapped… and ruined _everything_, just like that.

_It's not your fault, it's **his**_, the voice inside him said with absolute conviction, but either way, it didn't matter, did it? At the very least, they were right back to square one again, and at the worst, Naruto had just shattered that bond apart for good at long last. And either way it made no difference, because Naruto was fed up with trying to fix everything when it just kept falling apart again in his hands.

Fuck Sasuke. Just screw it—if he didn't care, then Naruto didn't either.

A sharp pain stung his palm, and he realized he'd clenched his fist so hard that his nails (and were they sharper than usual?) had torn the skin. He stared at it for a moment, eyes fixed dully on the four little crimson marks, while his mind saw a different place and time entirely.

_(I won't ever get scared or run away… I swear by this pain in my left hand!)_

That was what he'd said, back then… but back then he'd never thought anything like this could ever happen.

…That really had been a long time ago.

Fighting the sudden conflicting urge to both curl up into a ball and storm off to flatten the nearest standing object, Naruto leaned back against a nearby wall and closed his eyes.

"Naruto?"

…And opened them once more to see a pair of beautiful green ones staring into his with concern.

"…Sakura-chan," he breathed.

Sakura was frowning at him, having just come from up the street. "Are you all right?" she asked cautiously.

"I… yeah. Yeah, I'm fine," he said quickly, trying to sound convincing. He must not have done a very good job of it, though, because Sakura's frown only deepened, and she looked away hesitantly.

"…It's Sasuke-kun, isn't it?" she said, her voice quiet.

"No, it's all right," he replied even though it was blatantly false, determined not to upset her with any of this. "It's just, you know…" He cast about for some excuse to give. "…He didn't want to come with me, that's all," he finished rather lamely.

Again, however, something must have come across in his voice or manner that gave him away, because Sakura turned back to him, and there was something both sad and oddly touched in her eyes. "Naruto… you don't have to pretend everything's all right just for me. I know he…" She paused diplomatically, then concluded, "…He can be frustrating, sometimes." She trailed off with a smile that looked achingly forced, and for a moment it was painfully clear just how much she really missed Sasuke. It tore at Naruto's heart, partly because he hated to see her sad, and partly because a very small part of him was wishing desperately that, even just a little, she might one day feel the same way about Naruto that she did about Sasuke.

But mostly, his heart ached because it was _his_ fault that she was feeling sad now… because he'd failed, again, to keep his promise.

"Sakura-chan…" he murmured, suddenly overwhelmed by a tremendous feeling of guilt. "I'm sorry."

Sakura looked surprised for a moment, then frowned again, shaking her head firmly. "You don't have anything to be sorry for, Naruto; it's not your fault."

"No, it is!" he said back louder than he'd meant to, as the guilt tore at him even harder. "Just now… just now we were…" He faltered, tightening his fists again, then winced, barely suppressing a hiss as his hand stung once more.

Sakura didn't miss it, and glanced at the blood dripping from his palm with sudden alarm. "Naruto, your hand—"

He squeezed his fist even tighter, suddenly feeling as though he deserved the pain. "_We fought_," he admitted hollowly. "We fought again. And—" He broke off with a grimace, as the remorse he was feeling transformed with astonishing swiftness into anger as he relived those last few minutes in his apartment. "And that stupid _bastard_—he—"

Sakura was looking at him with more and more concern. "Naruto…?"

He blinked, and almost started as his tumultuous emotions melted right back into guilt; for a moment he had nearly forgotten who he had been talking to. He looked back at her; damn it, he was making her even sadder, all because he just couldn't shut up. He hated this. "I… _tried _to keep my promise…" he said urgently, needing to communicate this to her, but feeling more and more like a failure with every word. "I really did—"

"It's all right," Sakura said hurriedly, taking his left hand gently into her own before he could cause it any further damage, and giving it a small, comforting squeeze as she pulled a roll of bandages from her equipment pouch and started to wrap the injury. "I never expected it to go back to the way it was all in one day."

He shook his head, dismissive; she was too kind and naïve, and it only made it worse, somehow. "You weren't there, Sakura-chan, you don't know… it was…"

"You two fight all the time," she said reassuringly. "I'm sure it'll be just fine."

"This was different!" he shouted back—damn it, she sounded so encouraging; he couldn't take it. "This was… if he didn't hate me before, I know he does now." Feeling a sudden creeping bitterness, he muttered, "If he even cares enough for it to make a difference one way or the other."

"Sasuke-kun does care, Naruto; you know that," she stated firmly as she finished with his hand. "He just… he doesn't show it like you or I would."

"Would it kill him to do it just once then?" he replied still more bitterly. "Would it kill him to just _once _do _something _to show that he's fuc—that he's even _human? _Maybe apologize, or _something!_"

Sakura looked for a moment as if she half wanted to agree with Naruto and half wanted to defend Sasuke. "…It's hard for him," she said at last.

"I don't _care _if it's hard for him! It's not like it's been a _picnic_ for us!"

Sakura looked down, her eyes soft and understanding. "…I know."

…And here he was, causing her still more pain and unloading on her once again. What the hell was wrong with him? Feeling horrible, his eyes fell to the ground as well. "I just…"

But he trailed off as he noticed Sakura was no longer looking at the pavement or at him; instead she had suddenly shifted her glance upward, behind him, eyes widening in surprise and recognition. He realized who she had to be looking at and turned around himself just as she whispered, "Sasuke-kun."

Sasuke was standing with his hands in his pockets, his face solemn but unreadable as he met Sakura's eyes in return. "Sakura."

For a moment it was quiet. Feeling suddenly out of place, and still angry at Sasuke on top of that, Naruto wasn't sure whether to say anything or to just shut up and let the two of them have their moment, so in the end, at a loss, he wound up doing the latter. Finally, Sakura broke the silence with a hesitant smile, somehow managing to convey a dozen messages with that one expression and the question that followed. "How are you?"

Sasuke looked away somewhat awkwardly. After a moment, he shrugged for answer. "…You?" he asked in return.

Sakura's smile broadened slightly at the question, and Naruto saw that she seemed less tentative now. "I'm all right." She paused for a moment, then added in a very modest, casual tone, "I've been training."

Sasuke blinked, though Naruto couldn't tell if it was surprised or interested or something else. "By yourself?" the dark-haired boy asked.

Sakura shook her head. "No." And very suddenly, her smile grew even more, and she looked so visibly proud and pleased with herself for the first time in ages that Naruto almost wanted to smile too. "With the Godaime Hokage-sama."

Naruto gave a start—this was news to him, even though he'd been wondering what she'd been up to as of late. Apparently, it was news to Sasuke as well; for the first time since the conversation had begun, his unreadable expression actually slipped a little in surprise. His lips parted just slightly, but he didn't seem to know just what to say, so he finally seemed to settle for a simple, mild, "…Huh."

"With that old hag?" Naruto said incredulously, gaping at Sakura and even forgetting for a moment that he was still angry with Sasuke.

Sakura turned an annoyed glance to him. "Don't talk about the Hokage like that, Naruto!"

"But she _is _an old hag!" he insisted in his defense. "She's the same age as that old pervert!"

"She's beautiful and she's amazingly strong," Sakura affirmed in a tone that left no room for argument. "So you'd better shut up, because I want to be just like her some day."

"Good," Sasuke put in suddenly, causing both Naruto and Sakura to turn; for a moment they had almost forgotten he was still there. "That's good," the other boy repeated as he looked at Sakura, quiet and thoughtful. "…I hope you do well." His face was as hard to judge as ever, but for a moment Naruto thought he detected something almost like respect or satisfaction in his voice; at any rate, he sounded as sincere as he ever did, and Naruto's hostility lessened a little almost in spite of himself.

Sakura beamed. "Thank you, Sasuke-kun." She paused, then asked tentatively, "Um… do you want to come and get some ramen with us?"

Sasuke looked down, then shook his head. "No." The answer wasn't cruel or even apologetic, simply matter of fact, but nonetheless the rejection sent anger coursing through Naruto once more. Ignoring this, however, Sasuke suddenly turned to look him straight in the eye. "You."

Naruto glared. "What?"

"Come with me."

"Why?" demanded Naruto, narrowing his eyes—it figured the jerk wouldn't even _ask_, but instead just order it like Naruto was expected to follow.

"Because I need to show you something," Sasuke said irritably, as if questions were a waste of his time. "Just come."

Naruto scowled, not particularly wanting to go anywhere with Sasuke, especially when it would mean leaving Sakura on her own, but to his surprise, he suddenly felt the latter's hand on his arm again. "It's all right, Naruto… go on."

"…You sure?" he asked uncertainly.

"Yeah." She patted his arm with a smile. "Go." She smiled up at Sasuke too, was met by still another unreadable glance, and nodded. And even though Naruto wasn't close to fluent in whatever silent language they were speaking, the consensus was apparent enough that even he still got the gist. So finally he just sighed. "All right, fine."

With a goodbye wave to Sakura, he stepped over to Sasuke, muttering under his breath, "I thought you weren't allowed to leave the apartment."

"I'm not," said Sasuke dismissively. "I just don't really care. Come on."

He leaped to a nearby roof and looked down at Naruto impatiently. Naruto jumped after him, and they set off to wherever it was that Sasuke intended to go.

* * *

The sky was getting increasingly overcast as Naruto tailed Sasuke through the village, and he was just starting to wonder if they were going to get rained on before they reached their destination when Sasuke turned into the Uchiha compound, and Naruto abruptly found himself with quite a few more pressing questions on his mind. Sasuke led them right past his old house, which answered one question, but when they finally halted outside an old temple, a dozen more sprang up in its place.

Sasuke opened the door, and Naruto stepped after him into an empty room padded with tatami mats. Sasuke moved to kneel beside one. "This shrine's been on my family's property since before this village was founded."

When Naruto looked at him questioningly, the other boy slipped his fingers in between the edges of the mat, and pried it up. Naruto's eyes widened. Underneath the mat lay a concealed trap door. Sasuke pulled it open, then peered down, his brow furrowed darkly. "And I don't know how old the scroll is that's hidden down there… but I'm pretty sure it's been in my family even longer than the shrine."

There was silence after that. Then, finally, Sasuke looked up at Naruto, his dark eyes as grave as Naruto had ever seen them.

"I've never shown this to _anyone_."

He held Naruto's gaze for so long that Naruto felt as if a vital secret was being suddenly placed upon him. "Then why me?" he finally asked.

Sasuke glanced away. "…Because you deserve to know."

He reached down into the dark, withdrew a candle, and a few hand seals later had produced a tiny flame. He handed it to Naruto silently, and motioned back to the passage. Then without another word, not even a sarcastic warning to not burn the place down, he disappeared back out the temple entrance.

Naruto stared after him for a long moment. Then he turned, swallowed, and stepped down through the door. There was a staircase inside, and he followed it down until he emerged into a dark room. At the far end stood an altar; strange-looking bird and fire carvings decorated the walls on either side. He stepped over, pausing to light the two candles that stood at the altar's base, then placed the one he was holding on the ground beside them.

Atop the altar sat a small, ancient-looking scroll. Naruto picked it up, carefully unrolled it, and began to read.

* * *

He read it three times before he finally accepted the contents, even though everything fell into place before he was even halfway through the first time. Afterward, he just stood there for a very long while, lost in thought. He wasn't sure how much time had passed before he finally climbed back out of the little door, closed it, and mechanically replaced the tatami mat once more.

He found Sasuke sitting by the base of a large rock outside, fingering a kunai absentmindedly and staring off into the darkening clouds. Wordlessly, Naruto sat down beside him. Minutes passed. The sky above rumbled and threatened to pour down any second, and Naruto knew that neither of them cared in the slightest.

At last, he asked quietly, "How long have you known?"

"…Since I was seven."

Naruto's head shot toward him, stunned. "_Seven?_"

Sasuke didn't look back. "He told me the same night he killed them," he said simply.

A feeling of horror and empathy for the other boy washed over Naruto, and he looked away, suddenly feeling sick. He hesitated, choosing his next words very carefully. "So… if you've known all this time… why didn't you…?"

"That's not the question," said Sasuke in reply. "It's why _did _I finally try, at the valley." He paused. "…And I don't know why."

Naruto frowned. "Back at the Academy… you never seemed interested in making any friends," he said slowly.

Sasuke didn't answer.

"…Was that the reason?" Naruto asked.

Sasuke sighed. "I wouldn't have wanted to anyway," he answered, his voice very soft and hollow in a way that implied a hundred meanings, most of which Naruto wasn't sure he ever wanted to know. He took a deep breath, not knowing if he should continue, but he was becoming increasingly sure of something, and he needed to be certain.

"You left Konoha," he said at last. "If you really wanted to, you could have done it, back here… but you left, instead."

Again, Sasuke said nothing in response.

"…And you didn't kill me, even at the Valley of the End, when you had the chance."

"Not for lack of trying," Sasuke intoned quietly.

Naruto remembered _that_ well enough without the reminder, but he just shrugged this time. "…Still. You didn't do it."

"I shouldn't have tried," Sasuke replied, his voice suddenly harsh. He clenched his fist hard. "Ever since that day, I've told myself… I'd never become what _he _was. A monster… a _murderer_. And yet… I almost did it anyway." He released a long breath, and suddenly seemed to slump against the rock.

"I'm sorry," he said at last.

Naruto swallowed… then closed his eyes, feeling as if a crushing weight had finally been lifted off him.

"…It's all right." He smiled suddenly, feeling at ease for the first time in ages, then looked back at Sasuke.

"After all… you're my best friend, right?"

Sasuke turned at long last, and met Naruto's eyes hesitantly. Naruto grinned. A raindrop suddenly splashed atop his head, and he grinned wider.

_You're right, Sakura-chan. He does care._

Another raindrop landed, then another, and almost before he knew it, Naruto had started to chuckle softly. It suddenly seemed like the only possible way to end a day that had cycled him through so many rampant emotions, from pain, confusion and anger, to understanding, contentment… and _relief_.

Sasuke looked away again, and though he didn't really smile himself, Naruto knew that it was going to be all right.

It rained, and they sat there, as the world made itself anew.

* * *

_-to be continued-_

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

I have no clue what's written at the Nakano Shrine, except that it must confirm the "_You must kill your closest friend" _stuff Itachi told Sasuke, at the very least. So I cheated here and didn't go into details. Eh. :P

Anyway, on to what's coming next: This whole fic so far is basically act 1 (or part 1, or whatever you prefer to use) of what should hopefully be a three-part story. Next weekend I'll be posting the epilogue to this first part, and then it will be completed and I'll be moving on to the second part (which will be posted as its own fic).

Lastly, for those who are interested in following this story in its entirety, I have a reading assignment for next week. ;) This is where my one-shot _Grown Up Orphans _fits into the timeline, taking place three months after this and about a month before the soon-to-be-posted epilogue. (Incidentally, a few reviewers were wondering where/when the nightmare issue might again come up—that story is pretty much where it's acknowledged, although subtly. But I figured anything bigger would be too OOC.) Thanks very much to everyone who's been reading this, and I hope it's been worth your while so far. :)


	9. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: **Yeah, Kishimoto still owns Naruto. There are days when I really envy him for it, but he treats it better than I probably would. XD

* * *

_Tonight, I'm alive  
I've watched you all grow up and so have I_

_--Staind, "Tonight"_

* * *

**Path of No Regrets: Renewal  
**

**_-Epilogue-_**

_-4 Months Later-_

They were his students, after all. All three of them, although Kakashi realized the situation wasn't exactly conventional. But even so, to him they'd always be his brats, no matter who else they trained with, no matter how much they grew. So while he accepted the reality of having more or less let two of them go, there were still days when, if he was honest with himself, he somewhat resented having to ask permission.

"A team mission?" Tsunade repeated teasingly—_teasingly_, he reminded himself. "Don't you need a team for that?" She raised a wry eyebrow, and yes, Kakashi did resent it, just a little. But he let it slide off him, and he played along with a smile.

"I guess I do," he replied. "Know where I could find one?"

"Are you asking me if you can kidnap your former students?" Tsunade said, looking amused. Kakashi closed his visible eye thoughtfully as he acknowledged—reluctantly—that he _was_, in fact, asking.

"I suppose I am."

Tsunade's expression softened a bit. "You shouldn't sound so bitter," she chided after a moment, giving him a glance that made him feel oddly embarrassed. "You're too young for that."

Now he _really _felt embarrassed. For a moment he wondered at the fact that there were still people around who could do that—tease him, admonish him, as if he were still a child, when his childhood days were long since past and he spent more time than not now doing the admonishing and teasing himself. But the Godaime was one of the few left in his world who wasn't his peer or his junior, but had actually been there before him and whose experience could outrank his. There really weren't many at all left, and the thought was enough to push any ridiculous lingering twinges of resentment out of his mind.

It also had the ironic effect of making him feel anything but young. He smiled helplessly as he scratched the corner of his headband. "I'm plenty old—and getting older every day, with those three."

Tsunade gave a soft chuckle, her gaze thoughtful. "I know what you mean."

She stared off into space for a moment, then seemed to pull herself out of whatever reverie she was getting lost in. "Oh, geez. _I'm _getting too old." She shook her head, then grabbed a sheet of paper, stamped it, and handed it over to him.

"Jiraiya's off doing some recon near Hidden Rain—or he _says _he's doing recon; knowing that pervert, who knows if he meant in the traditional sense—but anyway, he's not here, so the kids are all yours." Leaning back in her chair, she stifled a yawn, then winked at the slip of paper Kakashi now held. "That one should be appropriate enough."

His mouth quirked upward as he read the mission details, then nodded. "It should do just fine."

"Don't tire them out too much," she waved as he exited the room. "I'll still need my apprentice back in top form tomorrow."

"Then I'll be sure to tell her who it was that hand-picked the mission," he replied without missing a beat.

She was still laughing as he turned down the hall.

* * *

Yardwork was one of those things that was universally hated by teenagers regardless of how eager or talented they were, or whether or not they happened to be shinobi. For that matter, so was being forced to get up early only to wait two solid hours for a teacher who was perpetually late—he couldn't very well let old habits slip just because this was only their second team mission in months.

All in all, Kakashi hadn't exactly expected them to be _pleased _with him, even after he'd calmly explained that a group of children had asked him to join in their scavenger hunt. Even so, he thought being called a liar for his trouble was a bit unfair. He absentmindedly wondered what the point was in growing old if you never seemed to earn any more respect.

Meanwhile, his students engaged themselves in a vigorous debate over who would get stuck doing the weeding and who would rake the leaves. Before long, the argument had degenerated into a high-stakes game of rock-paper-scissors, and Kakashi was forced to intervene to prevent a brawl when Naruto accused Sasuke of reading his mind with the Sharingan. Intervention was required again when Sakura nearly ripped Naruto in two for diving into the leaf pile (reducing it to chaos), and again when Sasuke decided using a Katon jutsu was more practical than hauling all the leaves over to a compost heap (the resulting blaze nearly killed an innocent owl and set Sakura's scarf on fire).

But things settled down after a while. As Kakashi watched them gradually fall into familiar routine, he found himself wondering at how far their teamwork had come since the day he'd witnessed a spectacularly blundered effort to steal a couple of bells more than a year ago. It was all the more impressive considering that they hadn't had a chance to work together on even a simple D-class mission like this for a good long while.

And it downright defied the odds when he thought about how close they'd come to falling apart just four months ago.

A startled yelp jerked him out of his thoughts for a moment, and he suppressed a laugh as he watched Sakura chew out a thoroughly intimidated Naruto for messing up the tarp onto which they had been raking the growing pile of leaves. But just when he thought he'd have to step in again, Sakura, seemingly fed up with Naruto's sub-par performance, sighed and suddenly switched gears, and a moment later had started working out a detailed attack plan for the rest of the yard that made extensive use of Naruto's shadow clones. Not five minutes after, a group of Narutos set out in organized formation while Sakura, looking satisfied, got back to work on her own pile of leaves.

It was a display of leadership—and strategy—that Kakashi had never seen from her before, and for a moment he couldn't help but marvel at the confidence that training with the Godaime had brought out in her in such a short time. Even Sasuke, who had been carefully maintaining his distance from Sakura since accidentally setting her aflame, looked impressed—something Sakura perhaps noticed, because a moment later she graciously asked him if he would like any help with the weeds. Ah, well, Kakashi thought in amusement; some things never changed.

Naruto (or one of him, anyway), in the meantime, watched the other two out of the corner of his eye for a moment, before smiling and getting back to work. Off in a corner, another Naruto made a very deliberately innocent remark about the size of his leaf pile compared with Sasuke's weed pile. Sasuke very politely replied that it was fortunate he had nothing to compensate for, and Naruto proceeded to offer Sasuke his rake, along with advice about where he could put it.

Not exactly the poster definition of teamwork, but as Kakashi watched them trade insults back and forth with the practiced ease of true professionals, he couldn't help but be amused; part of him hoped that _this _would never change as well. He knew just how close that odd balance of rivalry and friendship had come to falling apart, and how painstakingly the two had worked to restore it, Naruto especially. He was glad that his students had come through their recent experience unscathed, of course, but in some ways he was gladder still that through that experience, they'd had the opportunity to realize just how precious those friendships were, and how closely they needed to be guarded. It was a lesson that many shinobi didn't learn until it was too late. He, of course, knew that better than anyone.

He found himself watching Sasuke for a moment, and thought, as he had thought many times before, about just how much his younger self was mirrored in him. Sasuke had all the frustrated impatience that Kakashi himself had once possessed, and more. They carried the same weights on their shoulders, and the same defiance toward them, as well as the same need to push everything else away so that they could bear those burdens alone.

But Sasuke had an inner strength Kakashi had never had, a type of resilience that enabled him to push forward, even at his darkest moments, just as long as someone was there to show him which way to go. Kakashi just hoped Sasuke would realize one day that he didn't _have _to bear that weight all on his own. That he still had what Kakashi had lost; he still had those precious companions. And that it was all right to let them help him, even just a little bit—it was all right to share some of your burdens with your friends, even as you supported theirs in turn.

That, too, was a part of teamwork.

Teamwork. He mused on it yet again, watching a group of Naruto's clones haul a tarp piled high with leaves over to the enormous compost pile at the edge of the yard. He'd be lying if he said he hadn't at times worried that his little team was growing apart, these last few months. Training under different instructors, heading down what seemed to be different paths: one toward revenge, one toward healing, and one toward a dream that some deemed impossible and others knew was inevitable.

And yet, the more Kakashi looked at them, the more he saw them growing not apart, but closer together. He could only suppose that they'd taken that all-important lesson to heart even more than he realized. And he could only hope that as time passed, they wouldn't forget it.

Because the future would bring things that would try to break them again, he knew. There would be new challenges to overcome, and old ones to come face-to-face with once more. They'd come so close to the edge, just a few months ago, that it was miraculous that they'd stayed intact. And from here on out, it would only get more difficult.

But they were strong. And they'd keep getting stronger. He knew it wouldn't always be easy, but he also had confidence that they'd rise to the occasion.

He watched as Naruto tried to stuff leaves down the back of Sasuke's collar, only to be pinned in a headlock, sputtering as Sasuke tried to jam more leaves down his throat. Another of Naruto's clones ran to the rescue as Sakura kicked still more leaves at them both, her "_cut it out!_" tirade rendered somewhat less effective by the fact that she seemed to be trying not to laugh. Kakashi smiled.

They were his students, after all.

_-owari-_

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Did I say a week? Apparently I meant 17 months. Whoops, well, you know, it happens. XD

So I'll save the ranting about the epilogue itself for elsewhere (though an apology for taking for-freaking-ever to update definitely goes here—sorry) and instead stick with just a couple quick notes for now. One, to be clear timeline-wise, this takes place three months after the previous chapter, one month after _Grown Up Orphans_, and one month before _Stone Skipping_. And two, this _will _be continued in a sequel fic, hopefully to be posted soon; I'd like to get back to the one-chapter-a-week schedule, but no promises this time, cuz… yeah.

Lastly, I'd like to once again thank everyone for reading, especially those who waited patiently for almost a year and a half. Well, here we are at last. ;)


End file.
